Carnivorous Hypocrite
by StickyTapeButterflies
Summary: When otaku girl,Nanako Euguchi, finds out her mother got married out of the blue and she's shipping her off to Namimori to go live with them, she's more than distraught. Not to mention her new step bro-Oh wait she can't call him that! Is a jerk! HibariOC
1. You're what!

Summary: When otaku girl,Nanako Euguchi, finds out her mother got married out of the blue and she's shipping her off to Namimori to go live with them, she's more than distraught. Not to mention her new step bro-Oh wait she can't call him that! Is a jerk! HibariOC

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><p>"<em>You're nothing but a jerk-a-saurus!'<em>

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><p><em><span>Chapter 1: You're What?<span>_

"Nanako Euguchi, get out of that bathroom now and stop being a child!"

"Not till you tell me everything you just said was a belated April fool's joke and that instead of hiding right now I should be laughing."

"Nanako stop being childish now!"

"CHILDISH!" Nanako Euguchi, a 14 year old middle school student in Shimon, popped her head around the once closed door, her normally straight hair messy from scrunching in frustration, "I tell you what's childish Mother, marrying someone without telling me! FOR ALL I KNOW THIS MAN COULD BE A MURDERER, or! OR! HE COULD BE SOMEONE WHO NEEDS THE MONEY AND THEN YOU'LL _ACCIDENTANTLY_ DIE AND THEN I'LL BE PUT IN AN ORPHANGE WHERE I WILL BE MADE TO WORK LIKE A SLAVE GIRL FROM THE REST OF MY L—

Nanako cringed when a fist arrived down on her head, as if to say, 'shut up girl', in an almost playful but serious way. Either way Nanako couldn't understand what had just happened, but for one thing it shut her up. Her mother, Arisa Euguchi, long auburn hair, 35, stood with her arms crossed, her face pouting almost like a teenage girl.

"I'm not being childish Nanako-chan, he's a very nice man, and he's charming and sexy, and tall and dark and handsome, he's—

Nanako tried her hardest not to gag when she saw tell-tale signs of her mother drooling whilst imaginary sunshine rays appeared around her head, all she was waiting now was for the rainbows and unicorns to appear.

"And anyways!" Her mother snapped out of her love-struck girl trance and pointed towards the girl's hair, "I didn't complain at you when you dyed your hair that snot colour and decided that wearing goggles was a necessity!"

"For a start," Nanako pointed a finger towards her hair proudly and bitterly, "It is emerald green! AND SECOND OF ALL GOGGLES ARE AMAAAAAAAAAAAAZING!"

"You know how many problems I had with school over your looks!"

"I guessing a lot," Nanako replied with her eyes turned towards the ceiling.

"YOU THINK?"

"Mum it was rhetorical, I didn't need you to answer me," she ended only to hear her mother growl under her breath before straightening herself out and returning back into serious business mode. Known as Mum number side 2, Side 1 was her girl side, Side 2 was I'm an achieving woman no one can get in the way of me.

"I want you to meet him."

"But mum, it seems rather odd, you mention out of the blue about a new man, not to mention you're married to him, any other bombshells you'd like to drop on me before we go on?" the teenager asked cynically, praying that there was nothing else but by the slight hesitant look on her mother's stern face there was quite clearly something else.

"Well…that's the thing…"

"…"

"We're going to go live in with him in Namimori."

"BEEJESUS ON POPSICKLES! NOT COUSIN TUNAFISH'S BORING ASS TOWN!"

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><p>Nanako sat grumpily in the car as it moved along scene after scene, place after place, her goggles firmly over her eyes, her headphones on her ears. Mainly to tune out her mother who was nag, <em>nag<em>, _**nagging!**_ Over the fact that Nanako refused to communicate with her in human language after her little announcement on the move, instead she had decided to talk in otaku language, mixed with made up words she had summoned from the basis of her mind.

Her music was rudely interrupted when a hand yanked at the headphones, causing the wires to choke her little.

"Oi!"

"So now you acknowledge me, daughter of mine?" her mother complained before pulling the break to bring the car to a halt, "We're here, welcome to your new home."

To say Nanako was gawping would be an understatement; she was more than gawping in fact. Her mouth was so wide that a train could probably pass through as if going into a tunnel.

In the terms of nerd language aka Nanako's favourite language, the house would be described as one word and one word only.

The house was a freaking _**'tank'**_!

It was like one of those traditional houses she saw on TV, the ones where people would walk around in kimonos and sit cross legged drinking sake.

"T-This is where we're going to be living?" she asked dumbfounded, still blinking in bewilderment over the huge house in front. Her and her mum's house back in Shimon wasn't impressive, it was a two bed room apartment close to the town centre, yet it still felt homely.

"Yup," her mum nodded gently, smiling a little.

"Are they loaded or something?"

"Does it really matter?"

"Will they buy me stuff?"

"**NANAKO!**" her mother shouted warningly tapping her shoulder, only for Nanako to frown.

"Come on, time to get out, we'll be going to meet your step-father and…"

Nanako hadn't heard the last bit, she had already turned the headphones back on and tuned out, yet she still followed as her mother paced elegantly towards the house. The front door was already open, someone clearly standing in the door way. She took a look from the feet up. Long legged, long bodied, well built, handsome face, chocolate eyes and well groomed hair. Wow her mum was right when she had gone _fangirly_ over this guy.

The man mouthed something in her mother's direction, well he had actually spoken, Nanako just couldn't hear and was trying her best to lip read while evidently failing.

The man then forwarded his attention to her and she took a step back a little intimidated, man this guy's stare was freaking scary.

From what she could make out, the man was saying something along the lines of hello, yet again with the headphones she still couldn't hear.

"Huh, WHAT?" Ignorant to the fact having the headphones on made her speak louder, Nanako's mother turned around and gave her a demon stare which caused her daughter to flinch and rip her headphones off straight away, her mother then nodding approvingly.

"Akio, this is my daughter, the one I was telling you about, this is Nanako."

"Nice to meet you."

"Yeah, like-wise," she replied even if it was a little forced causing her mother to sigh in return.

"Ah let me help you with your stuff," the man in question offered and Nanako for the second time had sworn the rainbows, unicorns and fluffy bunnies were forming an aura around her mother who was following the man around like a puppy.

Standing awkwardly around, Nanako walked a bit further inside, entering a small courtyard area which was incredibly neat. There were a few bonsai trees mixed among ashen gravel and dusted pavements. She followed a bit more and crashed on one of the nearby porches, stretching her limbs a little from the long journey from Shimon.

She leant back and pushed her goggles to pin her fringe back so they rested nicely on her head.

Exhaling, she sighed, thinking about the friends she had left back in Shimon. Oh ok…when she said friends, it wasn't really a plural, she had one friend, and well he was just more like the same as her.

Both of them were the bullies play things. They were always having the crap beaten out of them. Just for Nanako it was the girls –because she was known as the otaku freak-, and for her friend it was the boys; basically because everyone said he was no good. And well since after that, and there similarity over the fact they were both bullied; they became friends. She wondered what life would be like for him now that he had no one to talk to, she felt guilty, but then again she could always text him, or message him something.

A cold chill brushed up her forearms and she sprung up as if someone was there. Someone was watching her.

She catiously got up and went back towards where the car was, to see her mother waving.

"Hey Nanako-chan, where did you go?" she questioned and Nanako just shrugged whilst her mother rolled her eyes and turned to face her new husband, giving him a bright smile, "Teenagers these days."

The man in return gave her an understanding smirk, which was a little questioning on Nanako's behalf; I mean he couldn't understand; he didn't have any kids…_right?_

Nanako felt herself being pulled along and before she knew it she was in a large living room that was so freaking clean! Nanako just couldn't get over how clean this guy's place was, I mean her and her mother's place was known as '**EMPIMANTY OF UNTIDENESS!**' due to the fact their way of putting stuff away was _lets dump it on the floor! __**WOO!**_

Then again, this guy was obviously loaded, so maybe he had a cleaner or something, or maybe he wasn't at home very often. She took a glance over her shoulder to see her mum and new 'father' sharing a kiss, and she almost felt like barfing everywhere.

_Mother kissing equals obvious horror._

"So, urmm where am I staying?" she asked, trying to break up the lover's reunion, so she could stop inwardly gagging and get out of their presence.

"Oh, yes, let me just show you to your room, it's already ready, all you need to do is add your things," Akio stated and she nodded, paying little attention as she proceeded to follow the man down the long corridors. The corridor was narrow, but it still felt like someone was watching her, and that was well…_just freaky._

The man paused at a door and slid it open; Nanako couldn't help but smile now when she was greeted with the room beyond the door.

The room was huge, and there were lots of plain walls for her to stick her various anime posters up. Her bed was a double and she literally dived onto it, ignoring how embarrassing it looked on behalf.

Towards the bottom of the bed there was a large television, with enough ports for her to stick in her lovely old PlayStation 2, since her mum couldn't really afford a better one. Maybe she could ask this guy to buy her a Ps3 or something. Actually scratch that, Xbox 360; she didn't want a Ps3 now that all the details of everyone who owns one are in the hands of hackers. She didn't like that idea.

She heard a snort from the doorway of the room and tried to compose herself.

"You like it?" her mother asked with a triumphant smirk and quickly Nanako's _I don't care_ face was back up, even if it was very forced, and she was biting her lip to hold back the embarrassment of defeat.

"It's ok," she shrugged and her mum scowled but the man beside her put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"We'll leave you to unpack Nanako-chan," he mother said before disappearing from sight with her new husband leaving Nanako by herself.

She flattened herself against the bed again and sighed loudly, trying to tell herself that all of this sucked, even though it was so not true. The room was awesome, yet she tried to tell herself that it was gross, the bed was so comfortable compared to the rock back in Shimon, yet she tried to tell herself it was worse.

Giving up, she caressed the sheets with her cheek and closed her eyes to relish in the soft bedding. After a while it felt so nice that she stretched her limbs about like a cat, and then pretended to be making a snow angel among the sheets.

She was actually enjoying herself until she heard a new grunt, or snort, she couldn't decide. It didn't sound like her mother either, and she thought the man's snorts or grunts would be lower, not that this voice wasn't low…_**oh just look up!**_

Nanako sat up and her eyes came to contact was a figure lounging on her doorway, wearing a smirk that made Nanako instantly want to punch his lights out, even if the smirk was a little scary.

"W-Who are you?" she asked, punishing herself inwardly with swearing for the fact she stuttered.

"So you must be my father's new wife's child…what a herbivore."

_A what? And wait…wait…__**WHHHAAAA-**_

"HUH?" trying to plug it all together, she finally came to the conclusion of; _I have a Nii-san_. And by the looks of it he was older. She studied him a bit more. Pitch black hair like his father's, well groomed but a bit more naturally styled, except unlike the chocolate brown eyes the man she had met earlier had, this boy had the most cold and steely eyes she had ever seen, yet in some way –even though she wouldn't want to admit- she was jealous over how freaking pretty the colour was.

He was wearing a uniform which puzzled Nanako more; I mean it was the weekend…_the weekend_, _**no school**_. So why was he…? _Never mind_.

"Does that mean I get a stepbrother too?" she uttered glumly and the boy in the doorway eyes seemed to narrow, making her jump out of her skin. _**TOO SCARY! Too scarrry!**_

The boy made his way over, quickly and gracefully even if he was incredibly menacing. To put some distance between them before he made his way over, she flipped backwards, sending herself flying off the bed and getting herself stuck between the bed and the wall…_upside down._

Cursing inwardly and well and truly stuck, she glanced between her legs that were wedged against the wall only to see the boy's face looming over her like a vulture. As embarrassing as it was after…she squeaked, especially when her face was greeted with a long silver like pole that hovered dangerously over her nose.

"Eep!"

"You're such a herbivore, who gave you permission to call me brother?"

Nanako stared at him still shocked, and bewildered, it's not that she wanted to call this guy brother; in fact the idea was detestable. I mean they had only just met but still, he was horrid! I mean what person nearly pounces on you and then sticks a weapon in your face…_muggers, they do._

"H-hey, it's not like I want to call you that," she replied back wearily and defensively, the silver pole object still centimetres from her face, her body still in the embarrassing and uncomfortable position, she was just glad she hadn't wore a skirt, or well…fanservice shot.

"Then don't."

"Alright then."

There was an awkward silence and Nanako swore her lower back was going numb as well as the arms she was crushing.

"A little help…_please?_" she begged the stranger, or well her new—oh yeah she couldn't call him that, what was his name anyways.

"No." _**BASTARD!**_

"Pretty…_**please?**_" she grumbled noisily, trying to shuffle herself in an attempt to be free.

"No herbivore." This time all she could do was scowl and try worming herself out even more.

"Jerk."

"What did you just call me!"

"I called you a jerk; I don't know your name, so I thought that might suffice." This time she did get free, but she was dragged out and plonked flat on the bed, this following shortly with the silver pole thing placed under her neck.

Then the thing she did after reminded her of a child, but she couldn't think of anything else to help her out of this situation,

"_**MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM!"**_

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><p>"MUUUUUUUUM!" Arisa put her cup filled with tea down and sighed, and her husband in return gave her a small chuckle.<p>

"THERE'S A FREAKING HOMOCIDAL MANIAC IN HERE! HEEEEELP ME!" She heard her daughter scream some more, only to watch her husband laugh silently even more. She shot him a look but then began to giggle in return.

"I take it she's just met Kyouya."

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><p>AN: Urmm A oc story yes, it is set a bit before Tsuna met Reborn but will enter that, seeing as this character is Tsuna's cousin. I don't know if this is any good, but I'm going to continue. Reviews would be nice Make me very happy.<p>

I'm sorry that green hair might be mary sueish, but then again she did dye it that colour, she's not one of these weird girls were she was born with natural green hair, because that is alien, and Nanako is Japanese, and I see no green haired girls.

The couple I have in my head for this story is HibariOC, but there might be interference between them, but don't worry, she's not one of these characters where everyone falls in love with her. And guess who her friend is, I hardly ever see him in Oc stories, so I thought might give him a try, but it'll be ages before he appears.

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, again I would love it if you reviewed, now I'm off to sob over the fact I left my IPod downstairs and I'm scared of the dark!


	2. Cousin Tunafish!

Sorry that's its been a while, here is the newest chapter. Sorry if it sucks!

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><p><em><span>Chapter 2: Cousin Tunafish<span>_

"Hi, I'm Nanako Euguchi; it's very nice to meet you all." With a bow, Nanako fidgeted nervously as the whispering voices of her class entered one ear and out the other.

It didn't take long for there to be many comments on her hair, not to mention the goggles on her head; there were also whispers on her rucksack which had a giant picture of L from Death Note on staring blankly at the members of the class, as if the bag was staring into their souls.

Not just that though, there were many comments on the red lump taking place on her forehead, thanks to the homicidal maniac she had for a new stepbrother.

Looking straight at the floor to avoid the scrutinising eyes she waited for the teacher to announce where she would be sitting.

"Ok, Miss Euguchi, you'll be sitting next to Sawada-san."

"Sawada?" Her head popped up and the whole class stared in awe as her face lit up with a smile as she followed the teacher's finger.

It really was her cute cousin. Sitting there with that ridiculous gravity defying starfish hairstyle and those adorably round saucers he had for eyes. In fact, he looked more feminine than she did, and she was the one wearing the skirt. In excitement, and happiness that she knew someone in her class, she raised her hand and waved crazily.

"HEY COUSIN TUNAFISH!" The whole class blinked once, then twice, registering what the girl had just said before laughing their heads off in amusement. The brunet boy in her sights now seemed to be embedding his forehead to become one with the table in embarrassment, the tips of his ears notably red…_oops_.

She pressed a hand to her mouth in alarm over what she had just done and blushed also, before waddling sheepishly towards the seat next to her cousin. She placed a timid hand on his back and gave it a pat, whispering a small apology in his ear.

The teacher, whose face was a picture, tutted loudly before returning to the blackboard. She instantly straightened her back like a professional solider when she felt the eyes hit her again, narrowing as they examined her once again from head to toe. The bright red bump going redder in colour as she blushed hard under the pressure.

'Don't look at me!' her subconscious cried, and like her cousin she attempted to become one with her school desk.

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><p>"When Mama told me Aunt Arisa had remarried, I didn't know you were moving here Nanako-chan," the brunet said striking conversation as the two sit awkwardly up on the school roof. It had been a long time since they had seen each other, in fact the last time she had seen him was when she was 10, so 4 years ago. That's a long time, I assure you. Think about it. 365 days times four…<em>wait are we counting leap years?<em>

She flicked herself in the forehead to stop her mind wandering and gave her cousin a smile. He hadn't really changed at all, in fact, all that had happened was that he had grown taller; he was still as cute as a button as well. Man she couldn't help feeling envious.

"Hahaha, I only found out the other day Tunafish," she grinned uncomfortably; noticeably gridding her teeth as her mind overplayed the situation her mum had just welcomed her into. Scratch welcoming, more like booted her into a situation she couldn't stand.

"Soooo…" her cousin drawled out before gulping loudly over the fact his cousin was clawing the floor a little, "What's your stepfather like then?"

Calming herself down a tad, she brushed a hand through her hair and sighed, glancing over towards her cousin with a grim expression.

"Well…even though I don't want to admit it, he seems nice and my mum's flipping smitten," she then shuddered as she went on, "She goes on how about how sexy he is all the _damn_ time, not to mention their snuggling and the…kisses."

Tsuna gave her sympathetic look and she smiled, budging a little closer, to look in his bento box at what food she could pinch. I mean, if she recalled correctly Auntie Nana was an amazing cook, one of the best. She had taught her mum, who was not terrible to begin with! She remembered the disgusting purple slop bubbling in the pan from years ago. She was so glad Auntie Nana had done what she had done, or they would have been eating mystery food for the rest of their days.

But thanks to leaning over, her cousin observed the bump on her forehead, tapping it lightly with the tip of his finger; only for her to wince and pull back.

"How…did you get that?" he asked with an image of worry imprinted all over her face and this is when her mind for the _hundredth time today_ wandered, her eyes darkening, scaring her poor cousin.

"This my dear cousin…" her aura intensified and Tsuna backed away a little, his lips pressed into a line as he literally saw flames, her green hair portraying medusa almost, "Is known as having a psycho for a stepbrother."

"EH?" He gasped out loud, as the girl was now trying to distract her anger by chewing furiously on a mouthful of rice, loads of grains clinging onto her cheeks.

"I HAVE ABSOUTELY NO IDE..mmm.. WHY HE HIT MMMMMN… ME!" She explained, while her angry voice got muffled by the food she was churning in her mouth.

"He hit you? Did you tell your Mama?" Tsuna questioned expectantly and in return Nanako nodded instantly but then crossed her arms, gulping down the last piece of food before she presented a huge pout.

"I told her, and she just said, 'aw, he's just shy'. _**Just shy my butt!**_ He hit me with these freaking silver pole thingies."

"S-Silver pole thingies?"

"Yeah…what with the stutter Tunafish?" a finger pointed in his direction and Tsuna found himself faced with a gruelling stare,

"You know something I don't, don't you?"

Tsuna catching up on his cousin's growing proximity got up quickly, putting his hands out defensively as he backed away.

"_Tunnnaffffissssh_," her voice hissed, its tone low and threatening, causing Tsuna to distance himself obviously by a few metres… _in the other direction_.

"Why did you stutter?" she asked again, putting her box down and standing up herself. Arms crossing, her feet taking one step in front of the other, she leant over towards Tsuna who had tripped due to his general clumsiness.

The brunet's sweat dropped and he exhaled nosily before nodding nervously.

"Your step brother doesn't happen to have a long black coat on does he?" Nanako froze and drew back, a hand placed under her chin as she stood and pondered. Tsuna was right; the boy had a jacket on, a blazer. _That weird school uniform_. When she had tried her uniform on, she had remembered his, and thanked god that he wasn't in her new school, due to the different uniform but…_oh no…_

"Well, the silver pole things you're talking about sound a lot like…prefect Hibari's weapons."

_**PREFECT!**_ So he did go to this school, and not just that…he had authority over her, she fell to her knees dramatically. _Did no one have mercy on her?_

"What was his first name…Nanako-chan?" Tsuna asked his body tense.

"Mum told me it was with Kyouya." Tsuna obvious flinch could only confirm her worst fears and she literally felt tears in her eyes as she proceeded to smack her head against the ground in defeat.

Her cousin, who glanced around the area tautly, crawled over, before patting his cousin on the back.

"There, there."

"I'm doomed Tunafish, he already hates me! He won't lemme call him Nii-san either, in fact he say's I can't associate with him. I mean, where is he to get off telling me that, it's not like I want to associate with him either. If I was to accept this situation, I would want someone who is kind. All my life Tunafish, it's been bullies! _**Bullies!**_" the girl cried, almost in one breath too making her sound incredibly flustered. Tsuna hummed in agreement. He had no reason to doubt what Nanako was blubbering about was the truth; I mean he knew that both she and he were bullied at a young age. They used to hang around at the park and the older kids would push them about, saying that Nanako was an Otaku freak, and Tsuna was no good. Either way, they both had an endless supply of plasters.

Nanako sniffed loudly, and composed herself, flicking her goggles so they fell from her head to over her eyes to hide irritation.

"Man, I'm pathetic Tunafish, crying over something so useless…it would be nice if dad was still here."

"Yeah," Tsuna smiled sadly, before giving her another sheepish pat on the back.

"Hey, Tuna, how are you doing for friends here at school? I mean I saw the way those guys treated you in class," they had treated him like crap, not as bad as they treated her friend, but still, it made Tsuna seem pitiful, it made her friend from Shimon seem pitiful, and she hated it!

Tsuna just shrugged and made funny hesitant noises before only shrugging again.

"Well," she grabbed his hands and smiled, "We will stick together Tsunafish, if our life depends on it!"

The enthusiasm caught Tsuna a little off guard and he laughed anxiously, but then nodded.

"I mean, we can be losers together…now…urrrr…_**HIGH FIVE!**_" Ignoring the fact she had called him a loser, even though everyone did, he cumbersomely grinned and joined in her little high five pathetically as they both gulped in self-pity.

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><p>Hibari lay perfectly stilled as he listened to the pathetic pair on the lower part of the roof babble on. If he didn't feel in such a lazy mood, he would have jumped down there and bitten the crap out of them. But then again, if he did that he might get told off by his father…not that he cared. But still, he could tell that one of those voices was the high pitch burden that now lived in his house. That herbivore, since their first meeting, which involved a lot of screaming on Hibari's delicate ears, was just the start of her annoyance.<p>

The day after she had entered his room, without permission, forcing him to apologise for nearly maiming her with what she called 'the silver poles of death'.

And when he had refused, the herbivore had the actual nerve to pounce on him. She had tried tousling with him –which Hibari actually gave her credit for- yet she was so ridiculously weak, and that's how she ended up with the shiny red bump on her forehead.

What he found almost laughable about her also was the fact that she was related to the school's other biggest weakling; I mean the luck in that.

He crouched up onto his knees, and looked over at them both, watching as she forced the slightly smaller boy to high five him. _Saying something about friends_. I mean seriously, if anything she could do to make her seem feebler, she mentioned friends! What was it with herbivores gathering together in the hope for strength? It didn't make them stronger; it just collected up more herbivores, which clogged up his eye line with their pitiful displays of crowding. Just like now as the girl hugged the boy tightly and giggled loudly, which he hadn't heard her do since she moved into the house, in reality he swore the girl hadn't left her room at all. Probably sulking, _another herbivorish thing to do_. I mean, why had his father picked a woman with a child, no less someone close to his age, I mean there was a mere year between them. Why hadn't his father just you know got a woman with any kids at all, or at least not with teenagers? I mean little kids were fine, they had the right to be childish, but this was a growing woman…though that was debatable, especially with the size of the chest she was supporti—

Why he was thinking of something like that was beyond him, what more he was getting sick of the constant jabbering, as a matter of the fact it appeared that she was bad mouthing him right now. Well he wasn't going to have that. His tonfas swished from under his jacket and he jumped down from his secluded spot and to say look on the two's face was satisfying would be an understatement.

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><p>Harbouring three purplish bruises on her arms, and a nice shiner on her cheek, she sat on her bed, groaning. It hurt... <em><strong>a lot<strong>_. Was that guy a ninja? He literally appeared of nowhere. Like from the sky, like something she would read in her manga book…and that most definitely wasn't cool! Nope, not cool at all. Ok maybe a little.

Those silver poles of death had appeared again and he smacked her and her cousin, for no reason. Well apparently he had a reason, this being, they were both herbivores. Was everyone an herbivore to this guy? What was an herbivore? Wasn't it the way rabbits ate? I mean herbivores only ate vegetables and leaves. She didn't go round the neighbourhood munching the leaves off the trees like some form of dinosaur or giraffe.

She liked meat! _MEAT!_ _**IN FACT SHE WAS A CARNIVORE! RAWWWWWR!**_ Ok so she wasn't that, she was an omnivore, she liked…_**why was she even thinking about this!**_

Tugging at her hair in exasperation, she puffed herself up and opened the door. _**TODAY! OH YES TODAY!**_ She decided wasn't going to go sulk in her bedroom like she had done these past days and walk around the house.

Entering the kitchen, she opened the fridge, grabbed a bottle of coca cola and made her way to the table, and drank it slowly whilst reading her latest manga discovery. A boy was facing a baby, whilst panicking as the baby pointed a gun to his face. The whole scenario was extremely comical and she tried hardest to supress her giggles but it was too hard and she was laughing like some idiot.

Her happiness was interrupted though when she looked up to be greeted by her step br—

Wait she couldn't call him that. Her eyes hit his and she scowled almost instantly. He also scowled, whilst he glared, coldly.

"Well _hello there_," she said cynically, a long dawdling wave following after.

He didn't reply, in fact he just glowered some more and made his way to the kitchen. And here she thought he might apologise for beating the crap out of her and her adorable cousin, then again he didn't apologise for the heinous beating he had given her the other day. And to be honest this time she wanted revenge. Screwing the cap tightly on her bottle of coca cola, she positioned it out of view and shook it hard, hearing it fizz quietly.

She got up from her seat and followed the boy. The boy turned and gave her a cruel stare but it was too late, she had already opened the bottle, tilted it in his direction, and it was already spraying out onto his perfect uniform. In terms of defence against this vile uniform attack, he grabbed both of her arms and tried to push the fizzy drink but in her direction, causing for it get in her hair. She fought back though, getting the drink in his hair too and soon the fizzing stopped, and she was met head on with a drenched angry male.

She smirked, and wiped a hand across her face. So she was drenched also, it didn't matter, because least he got drenched too.

What she didn't expect though was for the other to pick her and literally slam her down onto the kitchen worktop.

"OW! YOU SONOFA—

What she had forgotten about was those silver pole thingies, one of them once again wedged right under her neck threateningly.

"OH FOR GOD'S SAKE!" she cursed as she huffed loudly, "Is there any time that you will negotiate like a normal person!"

She tried to wriggle out of his grip which held firmly down onto her shoulders.

"I hope you know your cleaning this herbivore."

"Clean it yourself," she snapped, sticking out her tongue like a 4 year old.

"Herbivore, what the hell did you think you were doing?" his tone raised and she mocked it, her face reading, 'OH! I'm so scared of the big _scarwe_ boy in front of me'.

"Revenge my lovely _Nii-san_," she called him the dreaded word again and this time his grip got tighter, digging into her shoulder blades.

"Ow," she murmured under her breath as she felt the finger nails teeter on breaking skin.

"I told you not to call me that," he whispered hotly as his steely glare loomed over her.

"I KNOW! Just get off me already! It's not like I'm all high in the sky of having you for a step sibling either, now come on ass, lemme go!" His grip released and she sat up on the work surface, yet the tonfa hadn't decided to leave her view yet.

"Least we're not blood related, so if our parents ever split! Then we can go on our lives pretending the time we lived together never happened," she announced and he paused for a second before just wandering off without even an answer to his statement. _**Urgh he was too rude!**_

He took a seat down on a sofa that positioned itself in the open area, and she was about to keep ranting at him before her phone started ringing.

Was it cousin Tunafish? I mean she only gave her number to him, her mum and…?

She flicked the phone open and smiled.

"Hey!" she chimed out happily, and the small mouse of a voice replied back,

"H-Hello Nanako-chan."

She knew that voice all too well, and she knew that the next conversation she was going to be having was her talking nonstop while the boy just mumbled in return, but it was nostalgic. She liked it.

"H-How is everything in Namimori?"

"_Juuuust perfect_," she said with a bright smile, she didn't want this guy to worry. I mean they were friends, and friend's worried about each other, and she didn't want him to get stuck as she rambled on and on about her current situations. Because she knew, once she started…she would not stop.

Not just that, his problems was always worst.

"You sure?"

"I'm good; I want to know how you are? How's everything at school? Are they still…" the conversation went on as her timid friend mumbled quietly back, but there conversation was still great, it made her smile, and she laughed aloud when her friend made a small snide comment on the bastards at her old school.

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><p>That girl just wouldn't stop talking on that bloody phone; she just went on and on. He wanted to sit in his living room without disturbance, and he, Hibari Kyouya moved for no one.<p>

Not just that, his uniform was still incredibly sticky with that freaking pop drink she had thrown all over him. She was also covered in that tacky sugary crap too, and she wasn't acting like it was a problem. It made her green hair look even more like medusa's snake like hair, in fact why did she even have that _hair colour?_ It went against all his school rules, well that wasn't true, but still it was inappropriate and he wasn't going to let her get away with it.

But first he needed to discard of his now ruined uniform, which she **WOULD** be cleaning.

Starting on the top buttons, he began to work unbuttoning his shirt only to hear to hear a loud clack noise from the other direction. He turned to see the girl stuttering, her face the colour of a ripe tomato, as he slid his shirt off his shoulders

It also appeared that she dropped her phone also, that being the source of the clacking sound.

"Urrrrrr…w-what are you doing?" the girl stuttered and spluttered, covering her eyes up instantly with her arm, shielding herself away from him. What an herbivorish thing to do…he smirked and he knew a way to get revenge for her stunt earlier. He watched as the girl dived for her phone, choking apologies to the person on the receiving end.

He moved over and she shot him a furious but embarrassed look whilst trying to turn away from him. Yet he hadn't finished teasing, he zoomed closer, so she moved over towards the fridge to get away, but it wasn't freeing her as he followed her some more.

Finally she uttered a hurried goodbye to the person down the phone and hid it behind her before facing the boy head on.

Her face was a picture, it was completely hilarious, women were so easy.

"PUT YOU FREAKING SHIRT BACK ON!" she screeched into his ear and he couldn't help but wince, damn her shrill voice!

"And what if I don't want to, herbivore?" he said in a hushed voice, managing to cause the tips of her ears to go scarlet as well as her cheeks, her forehead too. There was also her nervous façade, the weird little twitches in her hands, and the fact she kept fiddling with the goggles on her head.

Her back had hit the cabinet and he leaned forward as she leaned back for safety.

"J-Just stop ok, I'm sorry that I ruined your shirt, I'll wash it if you want." _Bingo_, she had agreed to what was wanted but before he could shove the shirt in her face, she had dropped to the floor and slide between his legs before scrambling all the way out of the dining area; a door notably slamming down the hallway.

Was he going to chase her…? No. Let the stupid girl run, he would get her back another day. That stupid hairstyle being the first thing on his list.

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><p>AN: Please review I would appreciate a great lot, thank you for the three brilliant reviews I got on the first chapter, :D make meh very happy! This chapter though is urrrr…*smacks self in forehead*. It will pick up! I promise…I hope. Sorry if Hibari was a bit OCC in character in this chapter. –A-

Again please review!


	3. Babies are magical beings!

Big thanks to the following: BloodyBlackRabbit, IceCreamFan, X-Ulquiorra-X, AliceofDeath, and shokogoddess11, for the reviews on previous chapters. They all made me smile, imagine the happy beams 8D!

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><p><em><span>Chapter 3: Babies are magical beings!<span>_

Sitting calmly on the bus, Nanako fiddled with her goggles as she felt the stares of other passenger's bare into her. Ok she was wearing goggles, big whoop. They looked cool anyway. She hated the bus…but it was either the bus or nothing…ok so that wasn't exactly true.

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><p>"Nanako-chan, are you ready for school?" A new week had just begun, and it was her second week at Namimori, and luckily enough for her, she had managed to stay clear of sadistic step brother of doom, at school that is. At home, she wasn't so lucky. She hadn't told her mum about the incident from last week, with the whole, he was shirtless…she was defenceless, he had her near the cabinet; trying to scar her innocent eyes with his ugly chest. The only problem was, even if she thought it was 'ugly', her second mind, the one she wished would never appear, was telling her other things. Such as, the chest wasn't ugly…in fact it was lean…there was possibly abs…<em>yum<em>. Smacking her head violently on the wall, her mother stared at her questioningly; her mouth opened a little dumbfounded, two hands resting on her hips.

"What are you doing?"

"Just…admiring this wall," she lied whilst stroking it, making her seem even weirder. Yet wouldn't it be creepier if she just came out with, 'oh I think that twat happens to have a yummy chest'. Number 1: that just made her sound like some kind of freaky stalker pervert. _**SHE WAS NOT THAT!**_ Since when had she become one of those girls who were interested in those things? And why did she keep using the word' yummy'? Clutching her stomach in order to not throw up, she detached herself from the wall and followed her mother as they left the house.

Preparing to climb in the car, she was stopped, and dragged out.

"Nanako-chan, I can't drop you off, I did that the first week because you were new, but as of now, I need to go to work, so…" Nanako didn't like where this was going, she could feel the misfortune in the pit of her stomach as her mother removed her from the car and over to another area, "Kyouya, will take you to school on his bike."

Taking a look at the bike and then at the impatient bugger behind it, she instantly turned to make a run for the car again, but she was inconveniently stopped by a death grip on her shoulders. _Damn her mother and her inhuman grip. _

"Now, Nanako-chan, don't be difficult," her mother said through a mouth of gritted teeth, wearing a smile so forced that it could make a baby cry…or make her cry; either way, that bogus smile was inhuman.

"Kyouya is happily offering," she said in a sickly voice making Nanako doubt her. _Happily offered?_ Since when did that demon over there ever show happiness. The only time she had seen that twisted bastard even smile –that's if you called that smirk a genuine smile- was when he was beating the ever living crap out of her cousin and her last week. She still hadn't forgiven him for that either, because yes the bruises could be seen from a mile off, thanks to her annoyingly short-sleeved school shirt.

"Mother," she turned to face the woman, wearing a deadly smile of her own, trying to battle with the one her mother was still wearing, "If you think I'm getting on that bike, you should know I would rather jump off a cliff."

"Nanako Euguchi get on the bike," her mother ordered, her voice demanding, her right hand pushing the girl in the direction of Satan incarnate.

"No."

"Get on!" Her mother was getting angrier, but there was no way in hell she was riding to school with someone who would probably shove her off the bike into an incoming car. Anyways, why did he even have a bike? I mean, he was 15. So why, oh why, was he allowed to drive that thing? I mean, it almost looked like a motorbike…in fact, on closer inspection, it was a motorbike.

Teenagers shouldn't be riding vehicles…it was against the law…_wasn't it?_

"Fine, you tell me another way to get to school and you can take it! But you're being incredibly ungrateful," her mother hissed, the woman's face going dangerously red. Nanako stepped in front, holding her palm out, "I'll take the bus, money please."

The woman sensing she had lost a losing battle handed her the correct amount before stomping off into her car, slamming the door behind her. Maybe she had been a little too harsh on her mother, but she had to understand, the devil over there hated her. Wasn't it dangerous to ride with enemies? And how would she ride with him also, the only way to ride bike's with two people was for one to put their…**EW!** There was not a cat's chance in hell she was wrapping her hands around that jerk to steady herself from not falling to her death, they would be too close also. If her mother didn't care, Nanako would have found a way to get a restraining order against him.

Once her mother's car was out of sight, she attempted to not even take one glance over at Kyouya. Though it was inevitable when the bike came out of nowhere and nearly ran her over; dust flying in her direction enabling a coughing fit. **That jerk!**

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><p>So that's how she had ended up on the bus, and in the back of her mind, she just wished she had taken the bike offer….<em><strong>wait no she didn't!<strong>_ Tugging sharply on a strand of hair, she awoke from her imagination to see that the bus had stopped at her destination.

Bag swinging over her shoulder, she leapt off the bus and made it across the street only to hear a high pitched squeak. Pulling her fringe back with her goggles, she looked for the source, only to feel her mouth hit the floor.

_**WHAT IN THE HECK OF ALL HELL ON EARTH? **_

"KYOKO-CHAN, PLEASE GO OUT WITH ME!" Right in the middle of the school gates was no one other than her cousin, wearing nothing more than boxers.

Opposite him was the school idol Kyoko, quaking frightfully as Nanako's cousin seemed to forcibly shoving his hand out to her.

"TUNAFISH, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" But before she could get to him, Tsuna was slugged in the face, Nanako's teeth clenching as her adorable cousin hit the floor with a sickening splat; his facial expression considerably different than mere seconds before.

"STAY AWAY FROM KYOKO-CHAN YOU PERVERT!" The punch had come from an upperclassman, it didn't take Nanako long to learn who was who in this school. Enough went round for her to guess by one glance that the male punching her cousin was no other than the kendo champion Mochida. That and she heard others whispering his name.

"HEY, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Without consideration, Nanako shoved Mochida roughly away from her cousin, standing protectively in front of the young boy whilst glaring at the other.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing to an upperclassman you bitch?" Man, his language was vulgar, as vulgar as his overall attitude, and the face he was pulling. To be honest, he was wasting the slight good looks he had by producing that feral expression.

"Upperclassman or not, I don't give a damn who you are? Just stay away," her tone was low but the boy in front only grinned disgustingly.

"Hey guys, was this the stupid otaku bitch you were talking about?" the boy stopped and seemed to laugh aloud, "You guys were right, she's fucking ugly, I mean what the hell is up with that hair?"

Ouch, that stung, by now she should have been used to the insults, but still, it was painful. Pushing the pain with an imaginary shove, she glared and then brushed a hand through her hair. No one insults the hair.

Seeing red, she tightened her fist and tried to slam the other one in the face only to be held back, "N-Nanako-chan, please stop!"

The anger seemingly dispersing, she looked over at her halter and sighed when she saw her cousin holding her back, a red mark on his cheek. His face was crimson and his eyes looked like they were on the verge of tears…not to mention that he was still only in his boxers. As soon as this was over, she was getting to the bottom of this.

"Aw, Dame-Tsuna looks like he's going to cry."

"Shut up! Come on Tunafish, let's go home," Nanako announced, her hand wrapping around Tsuna's shoulder, ushering him away, her face turned away from her freaking upperclassman so she didn't beat him into the ground, because oh man with how she was feeling right now, the possibility of him losing the ability to have children was high.

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><p>Once back at the Sawada residence, the house lacking Nana due to the fact she had gone shopping, Nanako grabbed the boy by the both the arms and looked at him astonished.<p>

"Answers now?" Tsuna tilted his face to meet hers, tears literally welding at the corners, "I mean, did you just forget to wear clothes today? And what was with that manner back there…that's nothing like you?"

"N-Nanako-chan," the boy broke down in front of her, tears now rolling down his cheeks. For some reason, she felt that all of this wasn't Tsuna's fault. Almost as if, Tsuna was somehow drugged, or possessed in a way.

"Tunafish…how did this happen?" she asked, wiping one of his tears away with a fingertip.

"Ciaossu."

_Wait…what?_ That wasn't her cousin's voice, and by the look on her cousin's tear stained face, it looked like death himself had come for him and this was his last moments on earth.

Releasing her grip on Tsuna and turning her head over her shoulder, she came face to face with a baby. Wearing a suit…and a fedora…not to mention there was a gecko on his head…or wait, no a chameleon.

_What in the actual cheese cracker?_ Twisting around fully, she slowly lowered herself onto her knees and stared more at the infant in front. Number 1: How had this baby got in here? Number 2: Why did this baby look like he had walked out of some messed up version of the God Father? And…she took another glance back at her cousin, who looked like he was on death's door, which brought her to her third question. Number 3: Why was he so scared…of this child?

"Ciaossu," What language was that? She tried to saying it aloud but it seemed wrong. It wasn't Japanese and the only other language she semi knew was English, and that most definitely was not English.

"Hello?"

"Surprising, thought you might have known some Italian." Why was it surprising that she didn't know Italian…wait a second, that baby had just spoke Japanese…_**fluently?**_

Falling on to her backside in shock, she stared at the kid wide-eyed; who just smirked in return, actually smirked. _**BABIES SHOULDN'T KNOW HOW TO SMIRK!**_ And what's with his perfect pronunciation and dialect? When she was his age, she struggled to say something as simple as 'Mummy' or 'hi', and here the baby had spoken in two languages and said words such as 'Surprising'. A word she hadn't even been taught till she was like 8!

"You looked shocked? Why is that?" the baby questioned, actually questioned, and for some strange reason, her subconscious was about to start an adult conversation with the other.

"You can talk…formally…with no problem…how the hell?"

"You're the first person who's thought that as a problem, Dame-Tsuna over there only brought up the fact that because I was a baby I couldn't be his tutor."

"Y-You! IT'S YOUR FAULT!" Nanako winced a tad as her cousin actually squealed at the infant…she had never heard her cousin sound so upset, "Now I'll never be able to go to school again, and in front of Kyoko-chan too, my life is over."

Tsuna had sprawled out onto all floors now; slamming his head on the wooden surface, a lot like she had done with the wall earlier.

"Dame-Tsuna, don't blame me, I was only doing what you wanted."

"HOW COULD I EVER WANT THAT? YOU SHOT ME!"

Wait…he shot him…a clear what the fuck face appeared on Nanako's expression and she fell back some more, staring dazed at the ceiling. Was this all some weird form of fucked up dream? Next there would probably be teacups flying out of the ceiling, or something. Pinching herself a little, she actually couldn't believe she could feel pain. This was all real.

"I shot you with a dying will bullet, thus, with your dying regret, you chose to confess to Kyoko Sasagawa," the baby explained…huh? She sat back up and glanced over at her snivelling mess of a cousin. She didn't know that he liked the school idol, for some reason, even though it did make sense, she was confused. She didn't know if she was entirely too happy that her cousin liked Kyoko either.

"So why the hell did I strip my clothes off and what with my temper?" Tsuna yelled at the infant, who just returned her cousin's current temper with a kick to the face, which amazingly sent the boy across the room.

"Side effects of the bullet Dame-Tsuna," the baby went on, looking uninterested and apathetic to the fact that he had kicked the boy a couple of metres. Now Nanako really did think she was hallucinating.

"You must be Nanako Euguchi," the baby said, holding out a tiny palm for her to shake.

Taking it gradually in her hand, she glanced at him, eyebrows raised in bewilderment. So the baby was not just a super child in disguise…he also knew who she was…even though she had never met him.

"Yes."

"I'm the Assassin and Mafia Tutor Reborn, I knew your father," the baby spoke introducing himself, but what shocked her most was the statement on her father. The baby couldn't have been old enough to have met her father. Pushing that statement to the back of her mind, she then picked up on the first bit of his statement. The baby had just called himself, one: an assassin and two: a mafia tutor. Was this a prank show? Was a man going to jump out on her and yell something at her face and everyone was going to come out laughing including her cousin? Then again if her cousin was in on it, he was very good at acting, extremely good.

"Your failure of a cousin over there just so happens to be the next biggest mafia boss, that's if he doesn't die first," Reborn went on to say, and Nanako nearly choked. It was like her manga book scenarios had come to life and now she felt like she was going to faint on the spot.

"I TOLD YOU I DON'T WANT TO BE A MAFIA BOSS YOU CRAZY IDIOT!" Tsuna screamed from his spot and Nanako was too busy trying to fuse a possible answer out of this situation that she missed the mallet –that had appeared out of nowhere- which hit her cousin slap bang in the forehead.

"Shut up Dame-Tsuna, don't make this any harder for me than it actual is, or I might kill you myself."

"HIEEEE!"

J-Just what was going on?

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><p>Nanako let herself into the house, her keys hitting the kitchen work surface with a loud clack, but she didn't wince at that. She slumped on the living room sofa and sat in silence. Her mouth was still stuck in the same position it was said morning, and it was to the size where you could possibly throw grapes in there like some game. Dropping down onto the sofa, she was still staring blankly into space like she had been doing for the past couple of hours, which she had spent at Tsuna's house…and not at school; which she had skived for the first time.<p>

Her right eye twitched and finally her mouth moved from its positioned and she screamed, "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?"

Her curse words echoed through the house and she thanked god no one was here to hear it. If her mother was here right now, she would no doubt be scolded.

But then again, what was that back there? A baby that spoke perfect Japanese -better than she did- declared that her innocent cousin was the next biggest Mafia boss in line.

Now normally, if this was her manga, then hell yes that would be an awesome plot twist. Though this was no manga, this was real life.

For a few seconds, she bit hard on fingernails, trying to fathom it all. What she shouldn't be doing is overreacting, because, A: Overreacting would only make it worse, and B: It wasn't her problem, it was her cousin's.

What was going through Tunafish's head right now? A baby with magic powers too, turned him from once incredibly timid boy, to running around in his underwear and announcing his hidden desires to the whole school. What she should have been doing at his house instead of panicking was consoling him. NOW THE WHOLE SCHOOL WERE GOING TO BULLY HIM MORE! Her fingernails suffered another raged biting, and she ignored the pain.

Where was that idiot of an upperclassman getting off too? Her cousin was a much better man than he would ever be! Personality and looks, he succeeded high in both, she didn't understand why the girl's at school didn't take a closer interest in Tsuna.

An audible click sounded from the front of the house and she snapped out of her thoughts to see Kyouya stood upright in the entrance to the kitchen, looking her over with increasing disgust. She really didn't need that right now.

"Herbivore."

"Nii-san," If they were to play the name game right now, then two could play at that. She heard him growl but chose to ignore it, one leg crossing over the other.

"Herbivore, why where you not at school today?" she froze as the question entered her brain…it hadn't crossed her mind that the jerk was the school prefect…just peachy.

"I was at school," she lied through her teeth, her face turned the other way in order for him not to see her panicky appearance.

The room fell silent and she thought she had won. That he would just disappear now like a nice sensitive step brother, but she knew all too well that sensitive as well as nice wasn't in the other's dialect.

"Liar," the steely voice brushed her ear and it made her realise the proximity between the both of them. Not wanting to turn around, she came to the conclusion that he was right by her, but why was he so close? Biting her lip a tad, she looked out of the corner of her eye to see a blurry image of the other.

"You weren't at school herbivore," the other announced frostily, "And do you know what I do to herbivores who skip classes?"

She had a feeling she would be saying welcome to that silver pole thingy again if she didn't get the heck out of there right now.

"You give them detention?" she replied nervously, a bead of sweat dropping from her brow. If she could just have detention instead of those poles to the face then she didn't mind one bit…and wait a second…

She paused, drawing a hand against her slightly dampened forehead; she then twisted in a way her body could rotate. Her knees now perched on the sofa, her stomach to the back of it; she looked up bravely; recalling a simple fact that she hoped the other would take into consideration.

"Hold it!" she issued, keeping an eye on the silver pole and one on the male in front, she shook her head and tutted, "You can't punish me now."

"And why not Herbivore?" Nanako shook a finger in his direction daringly, a wary eye still pinned to the weapon however, "Because we're not at school right now, a punishment now would just be assault. To issue the punishment we would need to be on school grounds and we're not on school grounds right now."

Thinking she had won, she pushed herself off the sofa with the palm of her hands, her knees rolling back in order for her to stand, however a hand grasped tightly on her wrist pulling her back; her head colliding with the top of the sofa harshly.

Wincing from the pain inflicted in the side of her head, she jerked her arm viciously as the grip was held tighter.

"Don't even think about getting cocky Herbivore," the other hissed bitterly, the silver pole rising in his hand to greet the top of her head, "I don't tolerate herbivores who think they're smartasses as much as I tolerate herbivores that skip school and deny it."

"So I skipped school," she hissed in return, jerking her hand back again, "Big deal, it's the first time ever, and I did it for a good cause!"

"There is no such thing as a good cause or excuse for this Herbivore, release that idea from your mind."

The silver pole was preparing to smack down on the centre of her head, she could sense it, her free hand gripping out just in time to catch it. The feel of the cold metal made her hand sting but she chose to ignore it, keeping the cry of pain in the back of her throat.

"I was helping my cousin, didn't you see him this morning, he came to school with no clothes, and if I didn't take him home, more people at school would have seen and if he walked home on his own, there would be a big chance he would get arrested on suspicion of being an exhibitionist!"

The metal lurched in her palm, causing her to fall against the sofa once again, but she tried to keep strong. She was in no mood for this crap right now; all she wanted to think about right now was her poor cute cousin who was suffering at the hands of a magic baby over at his house. Not forgetting to mention that her cousin was officially involved with the mafia. She could deny the baby's accusation on her cousin but the letter the baby had handed over to both of them made not only her but her cousin see different. The letter was well written, signed with a professional signature too; it was definitely not something a baby could conjure up to play mafia games.

"Herbivore, let go," she heard Kyouya snap, causing her to leave her thoughts to see the male trying to wretch his weapon free, just like she was trying to do with the hand attached to her wrist.

"Promise you won't hit me then," she warned, getting up, trying to walk away from the other by backing away slowly, less obvious.

"Herbivore, you are testing my patience."

'And you're testing mine', she let go of the weapon hesitantly, and leaned back as far as possible.

The silence took over, and for some reason, it was the beginning of awkward stare off. The cold touch of his fingers was getting a little too much for her; it was just weird…and so very uncomfortable. The sweat beads had returned and had begun to roll slowly down her forehead.

"So are you going to let go or not?" the silence continued, and she remained stationary, "Look, I told you why I missed school, I'll take detention or what not…just let go."

The grip ceased, and she gave the other a pleading look, determined to be free, "Please?"

"Oh, are you two in the kitchen?" Her wrist was released as the sound of her mother's voice filled the hallway. Moving away from her quickly, Nanako observed as the other's weapons disappeared in a flash.

"Oh, this is a surprise," her mother's voice chimed, a smile pinned to her face as she looked back and forth at both her and Kyouya, "You two getting along now?"

Nanako watched her stepbrother, curious to see his response. The older male only remained stoic before striding out of the kitchen, like he owned the world.

"Guess not then," her mother sighed before making her way over in Nanako's direction; her face changing to clear disappointment. _Uh oh, what had she done now?_

"Well the school called me today—

Oh great, life right now officially hated her.

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><p>AN: This is shoddy, but I've started to introduce the storyline of KHR into it now, so I hope that's ok, like I hope this chapter was ok. Reviews would be lovely, thank you for the awesome total of 7 reviews on this story, not to mention the people who alerted as well as faved! Very pleased :D.<p> 


	4. The lack of common decency

Chapter 4: The lack of common decency

After the lecture the day before, Nanako vouched never to skip school again; even if her life depended on it. Why? Well that was quite simple really. Her goggles had been confiscated, not to mention her manga budget had been cut for a month. Did her mother not know that she was cutting off her source of oxygen?

"Get off of the floor Nanako!"

Rolling over to face her mother who was standing above her, Nanako scowled and weakly attempted to sit up.

"**Nanako!"**

Incredibly grumpy, Nanako went straight back into her 'I'm dying' protest and laid flat on her back, her eyes squeezed firmly shut.

"You've killed me mother, I can't hear you, I'm dead," she muttered through tightly pressed lips only to hear a frustrated groan in response.

"Nanako, one month without your goggles and manga isn't going to kill you, you know it might do you some good—

"EH? DO ME SOME GOOD?" Nanako couldn't help but screech now, her body in full working order and way off the floor.

"Yes, it'll probably get your head out of the clouds."

"NO! IT HELPS BROADEN MY IMAGINATION! A GOOD IMAGINATION IS GOOD FOR A CHILD!" she cried, absolutely flabbergasted at her mother's suggestion.

"But you're not a child Nanako, you're a growing woman," since when was 14 the age you started being a **woman?** Huffing, she picked herself up off the floor and tried a different approach,

"But mum, I was only helping cousin Tunafish—

"Your cousin is 14 also Nanako and he's a boy, it doesn't mean he needs protecting, he can protect himself, stop using your poor cousin to hide the fact that you skipped school, and so early in the term too," he mother replied, shaking her head in disappointment.

"But I'll never do it again! I promise," she pleaded, prepared to get down on her hands and her knees if she had too.

"Yes you won't and it's only a month you'll survive."

And with that her mother had walked away while her daughter, her only child, died a painful death on the floor.

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><p>"Urmm…hello, anybody here?"<p>

That morning when Nanako had opened the door to her classroom, she had expected to see a few dozen students lazing about, chatting loudly before their teacher came in and told them to take a seat. What she didn't expect was a classroom so empty that she swore she saw tumbleweed.

Taking a step out into the hallway to have a quick peek for any late classmates or anyone for that matter, she didn't have much success. In fact the hallway was incredibly silent too. No teachers, no students. Just what was going on?

Pacing over quickly towards the neighbouring classroom, she stuck her head in for a look to see a mirror image of her own classroom.

Was there some form of assembly going on that she didn't know about?

Picking up the pace, she made her way to the main hall, and tilted her head around sneakily. You know just in case, there really was an assembly going on; it would be embarrassing if she just entered there out of the blue.

Though to her surprise, there was no assembly, not a single thing. This was actually getting infuriating now.

Had there been the apocalypse after she had entered through the school gates? Because she was quite certain there had been several people on the bus with her.

That's when she heard the sound of a cheer.

It was almost silent, muffled through the walls, but from what she could tell, it was coming from outside.

She headed along the halls and reached outside. Yes, the cheers were definitely back; along with the sound of obnoxious laughs.

_What was so funny?_ She swung on her heel and headed in the direction of the noise, until she saw the gym door wide open, shrouded with a collection of students, a few teachers too.

"Get him Mochida!"

_Oh not him again._

She grinded her teeth as she proceeded to get closer until she was by the horde of people that stood by the door.

Then as soon as she took a step into the crowd, everyone went silent.

"REBORN! TO BEAT MOCHIDA-SENPAI WITH MY DYING WILL!"

And then it happened, the crowd split enough for Nanako to see what was so interesting.

"TUNAFISH!" she screamed, her jaw unhinging and falling to the floor as she saw her cousin mount the disgusting upperclassman, again only in his boxers. Not just that, the feral temper she had seen him with yesterday was evidently back, and with both of his hands, he ripped off a piece of their upperclassman's hair like it was simply a piece of paper.

"100 POINTS!" he screamed, shoving his hand at what seemed to be a referee, and the students around him broke into laughter.

"Seriously Dame-Tsuna, you took it well too far," Nanako heard one say through a snort, but then her cousin turned, the whites of his eyes clearly showing and growled.

"**NOT ENOUGH!"** Again the students were shocked into silence as Tsuna viciously ripped off ever last hair on Mochida's head.

"The hell," whispered Nanako, but her comment was lost in the sea of cheers as Tsuna pumped up his fist in victory, leaving their upperclassman well and truly whimpering on the floor.

"WOW TSUNA!" the crowd screamed excitedly, each of them surrounding the boy, knocking a shocked Nanako to the floor as the crowd surged forward.

Nanako tried her best not to get trampled as she sat upon her crouched knees. She needed to get to her cousin, ask him what had happened. _I bet that baby has something to do with it_, she thought straight away, as she dodged an incoming foot.

"Hey, watch it!" Nanako warned but no one looked down in her direction. However she was planning to make herself seen.

Jumping up, she gripped a pair of shoulders of a clueless boy in front and screamed, "TUNAFISH!"

The boy collapsed underneath her with a yelp and they both collided to the floor, but once one person fell down; everyone seemed to fall down like dominos.

A bit unorthodox, Nanako had thought, but now with her sitting on the top of the pile of a people, she had a clear path to her cousin.

"Tuna…" but she soon became silent as she noticed the boy was covered in a feverous blush, his hand scratching the back of his neck sheepishly as the school idol was giving him cute smiles.

"Get off me, Medusa," a voice underneath her sounded and annoyed she kicked the rude kid in the face as he made a jip at her awesome hair.

Scrambling off the crowd, she finally reached the bottom.

"T-Tunafish!" barked Nanako for the last time, hoping this time it would catch her cousin's attention and luckily for her it had. _Hells bells, Houston we have contact!_

"Nanako-chan?" the boy chirped, looking at her unexpected even though his face was still covered with a smile thanks to the auburn haired school idol in front.

"Why the hell are you in your underwear again? If so, where is that baby?" Nanako glanced around, looking for any signs of the infant. If what the baby had said yesterday was the truth, it appeared that Tsuna had been well and truly shot with that bullet the baby was nattering on about.

"Huh, baby?" Nanako initially turned her head around to give her cousin a weird look at his clueless façade but instead of her cousin, she was now faced off with the school idol Kyoko.

"What baby?" Kyoko brought up, leaning forward, noticeably interested.

Nanako sent a questioning look in her cousin's direction, as if to ask 'what should I say?'

All the boy did in return was put his hands in a small prayer pose as if to say 'don't mention it, please!'

"N-Nothing," Nanako answered quickly, a fake smile springing up onto her face. _Just believe it_, the smile continuing to force its way through; luckily enough for Nanako though the girl was already grinning and walking off with her friends.

Relaxing her facial muscles, she brought her hands to her cheeks and mushed them about to relax them, "Ouch that hurt, the fake smile is never a comfortable one."

"So, where is he then?" Nanako asked, clearly talking about the baby.

"Ciaossu," sitting on her backpack was no other than the tyke. His sudden appearance almost sent both of the two youngsters into cardiac arrest.

"AH! Reborn, thank you," her cousin bleated out happily and Nanako looked over at him stunned. This was the kid yesterday who was squealing at the infant for ruining his life.

"Now, Kyoko will talk to me, this has to be the best day ever," Tsuna declared with an enormous cheesy grin to follow and Nanako deadpanned. _Why where boys always so predictable?_

"If you say so Dame-Tsuna," the baby uttered apathetically, his eyes blatantly not on the boy but the remaining people in the hall.

"Nope, no one here, well what a disappointment, I'll have to sort something out later," the baby murmured to himself, only to catch the attention of Nanako and not the cushy Tsuna.

"Who's not here?" Nanako asked quietly, leaning back to see where the baby was looking. Much to her surprise the infant's eyes quickly locked dead on to her own as if he hadn't expected anyone to be listening.

"Members for Tsuna's mafia family, who else," the baby smirked, and Nanako lifted an eyebrow, so the child was dead on thinking this? Not that she could argue now after what she had seen.

"Are school children really the most eligible candidates for future mafias?" Nanako brought up sarcastically but the baby didn't falter, instead his smirk widened.

"Oh you would be surprised at the people you can find amongst these seas of nobodies."

"I don't think they would like being called nobodies," Nanako suggested but the baby only snorted and jumped from the backpack, only to land comfortably and weightlessly on Nanako's lap.

"Well if they don't want to be nobodies then they just have to do something about it, don't they Medusa? Remember that Otaku," explained the baby only for Nanako to gawp at the nicknames he called her.

"Medusa! I can clearly say, my hair is not snakes that will turn you into stone," she retorted, shoving a strand of her hair towards the baby's face, "And there's nothing wrong with having a clean obsession, I take it yours are fedoras then."

Nanako flicked the hat lightly with the tip of her finger and the baby only nodded.

"Least my obsession is stylish," he taunted, and Nanako only pouted but then giggled.

"You know what kid, you're alright, you know if you minus the shooting and the whole mafia thing, just try not to bully my cute cousin too much Mafia child," she stated and the baby only rolled his eyes as he took a look back his at his new pupil.

"No promises."

* * *

><p>"Where are they? Where are they?" repeated Nanako as she rummaged through her mother's and new stepfather's room for her goggles. She really didn't care if she couldn't wear them; she just wanted them on her. She felt almost naked without them.<p>

Opening cupboard after cupboard, she had no luck. Where had that woman put them?

"Come on," she opened a draw at the bottom of the dressing table, and reached firmly to the back, her hand clawing at anything she could find.

Pulling out a handful of objects, she brought them out into the open.

A lipstick; most likely her mothers, a bottle of perfume…ok this was definitely not her mother's she decided as she inhaled the scent.

It was a woman's perfume, and it smelt sweet, flowery, but not too much, it smelt good…_really good_. She turned over the bottle for a better look and marvelled in its appearance; a mixture of different coloured glasses that had then been sculpted into the shape of a cloud. Normally Nanako would have snuffed the shape as being attractive; a cloud was just a cloud. Plain and boring really.

Somehow though, through a clear shade of rich purple, Nanako found herself fascinated by the bottle. But who did it belong too? Fishing around the other pile of objects she found, her finger rubbed against a strange feeling surface. It was flat, and most definitely not like the wood of the bottom of the draw. Pulling out the object carefully, her hands caressed the plastic like surface to uncover a single photograph.

The photograph was dusty, and seemed almost a decade old.

On it was a woman and child. The woman was beautiful, her hair long and black, with a natural shine that reflected beautifully in the sun. She wore a smile that most would have described as breath-taking, the sort of smile that could lift anyone's spirits no matter how hard their day was.

However what caught Nanako's attention most of all was the woman's piercing eyes.

Silver, and they shone like a sparklingly jewel. They felt somewhat familiar in a way too, but there was a clear difference between the ones on this picture and the ones she had pictured in her mind.

Trying to take her eyes off of the strikingly gorgeous woman, she rotated her sights to the child the woman had her arm around lovingly.

Pitch black hair that was naturally tousled, eyes to match that of the woman, and a smile that also seemed to rival the woman in a way. The child was beautiful too. The pair was picture perfect down to the last tee. Anyone who would have taken such a photo would have been proud nonetheless. So why was it crammed at the back of a drawer, hidden away?

She leaned over to put it away but froze.

The child...she hadn't even bothered to think who it was until it hit her. The child could have been no one but the boy who had been making her current stay here hell.

She almost dropped the photo in shock, like it was burning her fingertips. _This boy, surely not!_

But when taking a better look, the boy's features matched that of her stepbrother.

She couldn't believe it, this happy child, this child that looked kind, content, blissful…was her evil, sadistic, stepbrother.

"No way," she muttered flabbergasted.

So was this woman…his mother?

She took a look down at the things she had pulled out, the perfume bottle, the lipstick, the photograph….it must have all belonged to her.

So where was she? Had she left them? Or had she…

Nanako's heart clenched as a familiar pain of discomfort took over. Was this woman dead?

"Just like father," the words fell right out of her mouth and the pain increased.

Reaching to put everything back, the picture too, she heard a noise; one heading in her direction. _**Footsteps!**_ Panicking, Nanako shoved as many things back into the drawer as possible, the photograph, the lipstick, before launching herself away from the dressing table and in the direction of the door; though it was too late.

"Herbivore, what are you doing in here?" a voice demanded, her eyes facing the chest of said evil stepbrother.

"L-Looking for my goggles," she replied back half truthfully, she hadn't meant to find the other things. Taking a look at the boy's face, she wondered, what would it be like if he smiled now?

That mouth of his looked like it hadn't been used to smile in years.

"Herbivore, what are you staring at?" the voice asked, but Nanako couldn't concentrate on the words he spoke. The child on the picture looked like he couldn't hurt a fly, it was too contrasting.

Was the lack of a mother figure the reason the boy in the picture had become this? Those eyes now were unfriendly, stony, like the blade of a knife.

For some reason, she wanted to hug it all away, but the idea sent Nanako back into the real world.

Had she really just though that, how disgusting.

"Not your ugly face for a first," she replied back rudely, her mind trying to deny any thoughts involving comforting the boy, or even showing him affection.

Nanako wasn't surprised when she saw him scowl, but it didn't last long as he was already reaching for what she assumed was his silver poles of doom.

"Oh come on, a little insult doesn't deserve a beating does it?" she whimpered, trying to push past him and out of the doorway, but the boy remained immobile.

"You were looking for something your mother confiscated, that's obviously breaking her rules, I should enforce a punishment, don't you agree?" he declared with a slimy smirk. Nanako shook her head frantically.

"Oh no way!" Ducking under his arm, she made it down the hallway, only to feel a sharp pain hit her sharply on the back, causing her to topple to the ground. He had thrown one of those bloody things at her! Searching for the object, her hand came across what she believed had hit her and she grasped it, and then noted it was one of the silver poles of doom.

Scrambling to her feet, she hugged the pole to her chest and ran for it.

"YEAH, NOW I HAVE ONE OF YOUR PRECIOUS TOYS! HAHA LOSER!" she teased as she didn't look back and dove into her room, sliding shut the door quickly, and hiding under her bed with the weapon now hidden under her shirt.

* * *

><p>The herbivore was stranger today, more annoying in a way. First he had found her in his father's and new wife's room, where she had declared she was searching for those scruffy goggles that she had worn all the way around his school. Though something felt off, it was imprinted all over the girl's face. Not just that, she had stared at him, without saying a word.<p>

It was then Hibari had been able to see what the girl really looked like for the first time. The goggles and the hair were only what anyone saw first off due to how ridiculous they looked, but without one of the items, it seemed to make her looks stand out and he found himself staring at her properly.

Her eyes were a dark hazel shade, making Hibari believe that once under that green hair dye was a natural colour to match. He wondered how different she would look with it.

Her skin wasn't as pale as his, but it looked like she didn't spend much time in the sun, then again, he had heard her mother complain that all the girl ever did was play video games or read manga in her spare time. It did look soft though.

She was not much shorter than him really, her head reaching just below his nose. She didn't have much of a body, that he had decided the other the day. Well only chest wise, there she was as flat as a plank. Though she had quite lengthy legs, and her waist wasn't that bad either.

Then it had dawned on him, he was checking her out; how disgusting. But before he could have whacked her on the head to eliminate the thoughts from his mind with her whining, the girl herself had seemed to snap out of staring fest and called him ugly, like she was hiding something of her own.

It had made him mad that the girl had even managed to conjure up such thoughts in him, and thus he distracted himself with the fact she was doing something her mother had told her not to do. It would have given him stress relief, if the girl hadn't taken up chase and then stolen one of his precious tonfas.

So this is where he was now, looking for the girl who had one of his prized weapons, though he knew she was obviously in her bedroom. The girl really didn't know how to play hide and seek.

Sliding open the girl's door, he looked around the room to see her clearly not on the surface of the outer exterior, that's until his eyes turned towards under the bed.

Seriously, didn't she know that was one of the most obvious places that existed? He stepped over quieter than a mouse and lighter than air making him able to hear her soft but short breaths. She was scared and tired, and for some reason it gave him a thrill.

Without indication, he grasped tightly onto one of her ankles. She squeaked loudly, and Hibari knew he heard a loud smack to follow as the girl's head bashed harshly on the base of the bed.

Pulling her out from underneath, her face was red as she cursed loudly over the pain, forgetting who had got her captive.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, that bloody fucking hurts," her curses continued until finally Hibari made himself noticed with a clearing of the throat.

"Oh crap," the girl whispered breathy, as she came face to face with him, but then her face changed as if she was challenging him.

"You're not getting it back," she declared through heavy pants, and Hibari shot her an incredulous, until he noticed what was shaped a lot like his tonfa under the girl's shirt.

"If you have any common decency, you won't be able to get—

But the girl obviously didn't know who she was dealing with, as without reluctance he reached under her shirt and yanked out his precious weapon.

"Y-Y-Y-Y…" but the girl couldn't make out her words as she gaped, her cheeks fired up, and her lips trembled.

"G-Get out please," Hibari rose an eyebrow to that response, as it left silently from the girl's lips. The girl did understand that it was clearly her fault, correct? She was the one who stuck it up there!

"OUT!" her demand came across louder, raising both of Hibari's eyebrows. Her fist then clashed messily with his jaw. He felt no pain though. He took the hint and rearranged his weapons. Picking himself up, he made for the sliding door.

* * *

><p>Akio had come home earlier than usual, and noticed his room seemed to be turned upside and then messily tided up. It was mostly among his new wife's stuff making him believe it could have only been her daughter, as he had seen his wife still at work. Then his eyes caught sight of the dressing table.<p>

Sitting amongst Arisa's things was a glass bottle in the shape of the cloud.

How had that gotten out? Moving over towards the bottle, he picked it up in his palm and brought it up to his nose. He missed this scent, he missed it so much. Maybe Kyouya had been in here reminiscing too, but to carelessly leave it out on the side was not like him.

"Mother?" Akio turned sharply in surprise as he caught sight of the green haired girl popping her head around the door. She seemed more flustered than usual; maybe she had another run in with his son.

"Oh, is she not home yet?" the girl asked quietly, and he replied with a nod. Instead of just leaving though, the girl's eyes diverted towards the bottle in his palm.

"Did that belong to Kyouya's mother?" the girl uttered, pointing at it a little, and Akio looked at her confused, how did she know that?

Though Akio just sent another nod in her general direction and the girl only weakly smiled.

"I thought so…the bottle is pretty," she muttered before leaving the room as quietly as she arrived.

Had the girl come across the draw of his last wife's things? Then again, he hadn't hid it very well. Had she seen the picture? The one he took before she had…he cleared his throat and sighed.

After that day, Kyouya had changed so much.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Well this sucks terribly, I'm disappointed with this, but I'm attempting to pick it up. I'm in France right now while writing this, Rueon, in a hotel room, that's well very pink xD.<strong>

**Please Review, thanks again for all who did last chapter.**

**Also, does anyone know where I can get a beta reader from and if my story deserves it?**

**By the way, I was in france and they have books of Hitman Reborn up to vol 26. France why you so epic? Why can't I not understand you _.**


	5. Curses to Motorcycles

_Chapter 5 : Curses to Motorcycles_

Nanako hadn't gone to school the next couple of days. Why? She found herself coughing and spluttering, her face getting incredibly hot; making her mother assume that she had a fever. However, Nanako couldn't tell if she was really coming down with a fever or something else entirely.

She had never been touched like that before, even if wasn't much of a touch, she hadn't expected him too actually do it.

It dirtied her view of him even more.

_He has no common decency_, her mind affirmed as she pulled on her school uniform.

She walked over towards the mirror, and fiddled with her hair, it looking strange now the goggles weren't perched on top.

Tying it back off of her face, she pouted as she came face to face with her mirror image. She looked too pale, unhealthy…maybe that was because she was still recovering from the fever, or probably because playing video games was more interesting than things that consisted of going outside.

Her lips looked a little chapped; she had been biting them a lot recently.

She really did look like Medusa this morning; especially when she picked up a lock of hair and watched it drop lifelessly.

"Nanako-chan, you ready for school?" her mother's voice rang through her ears and she just hummed loudly in agreement.

Opening the door, she swore her mother was staring at her strangely.

"What?"

Her mother put a hand on her daughter's head, and lightly tugged on the ponytail that was tied securely behind Nanako's head.

"This, it's different, it suits you," her mother confessed and Nanako only shrugged. She didn't think so.

"Whatever," she replied back instantly, her tone impassive and once again her mother's eyes seemed to flash with a different emotion.

"Nanako-chan, are you…ok?" her mother had asked, her voice laced with worry and Nanako just wanted to say no. She wanted out of here, she didn't mind even living in Namimori if she didn't have to see the evil stepbrother. But she didn't want to hurt her mother's feelings. The woman was in love, who was she to get in the way of that. It would heal her too, especially after the loss of her father.

"I'm fine," she lied with half a smile imprinted on her face, her eyes squeezing together tightly as she tried to increase her smile in order for it to be more believable.

"Oh…good," her mother hadn't sounded convinced but it would do.

Heading outside, Nanako paused as she saw the bike that belonged to a certain pervert was still in the driveway.

"Has he not gone to school yet?" she asked as she pointed to the bike.

"That's the thing, and I know you're not going to like it, but today I haven't got any change for bus money," said her mother worriedly and Nanako could guess what was coming next.

She would have to go to school with him today.

"I have to go to school with him today, right?" she answered her mother's sentence with a question before the woman even had time to finish.

"Ah, well yes," her mother replied surprised over her daughter's unbothered approach, nothing like the beginning of the week; where Nanako was nearly kicking and screaming in protest. Nanako had an aching feeling that the smile now on her mother's face was due to the woman believing her and Kyouya were best of friends now.

Never. In. A. Million. Years.

Right now, she just didn't want to argue.

"I'll go with him today," she uttered and her mother's smile increased. Yes, the woman definitely thought they were all flowers and hearts now with that face. It had actually made Nanako want to cry but she held it in.

"He'll be out in a minute, I asked him earlier if you could go with him, and he agreed, see I knew you two would get along," her mother declared cheerily and Nanako almost scoffed. The woman was so wrong.

"Good morning," Nanako flinched slightly as she was greeted with his appearance, ok so he had only touched her skin and stuck his hand under her shirt but she couldn't help but feel ashamed and embarrassed. It was probably most likely her fault for sticking the thing up there, but she didn't think his method of getting it out without remorse was the right way to do it. Then again, maybe she was acting a bit over the top.

"Good morning Kyouya, did you have a good sleep?" her mother asked, her manner very motherly that reminded Nanako of the picture the day before.

That woman was certainly more attractive than her mother but even still her mother had the adorable, sweet, tender smile which would have attracted many suitors.

The boy only shrugged and glanced away impassively, shrinking the smile on her mother's face. Nanako almost felt the sudden urge to punch the boy in that aloof face of his. Her mother was trying hard, so hard for the boy to accept her, and he just ignored her. It was understandable but he should least make an effort.

Though somewhere under this urge, she felt herself being hypocritical. She wasn't really giving his father a chance either, even when he had offered her such a beautiful place to live and a warm welcome.

"You're ready to go to school now Kyouya?" her mother went on to ask and the boy nodded, but not before heading off in Nanako's direction.

"You ready?" he said normally, making her raise an eyebrow at his behaviour. _What no herbivore?_ _No cruel stare?_ This was strange. Then again her mother was still here, so maybe he really was making an effort.

Nanako nodded and followed him as he strode over towards his bike, getting on the front, not even putting a helmet on for safety's sake.

"Well I'm off now, have a good day you two," Nanako's mother stated, waving to them both as she stepped into her car and drove off into the direction of her work place.

Now they were alone, Nanako considered that the silence brewing between them was agonising but much nicer than communicating with him. She reached the bike clumsily and got on behind the boy. Wearing a skirt on this thing wasn't going to be easy, but least it was long, and she was well hidden behind the shadow of Hibari's figure.

He revved the bike and Nanako fell forward, not used to it; her head falling into the crook between the boy's shoulders.

"Herbivore, what are you doing?" the question was silently approached and Nanako murmured back just as quiet,

"I'm not used to it."

Hibari just tutted.

"I'm sorry, you know I'm just a 14 year old girl, and I'm not used to being on a vehicle with an underage driver," Nanako confessed cynically and the boy in front turned his head over his shoulder.

"You could always get off herbivore," he declared, sending her a glare.

"I can't, I have no money for the bus and mum doesn't want me skipping school, she took my goggles remember because of it. You're a prefect too, surely you don't want students of Namimori skipping school," Nanako sent forth and the boy immediately nodded.

"Anyway, all this chitchat is going to make us late," Nanako professed and tentatively patted the boy on the back in order for him to move forward.

Again the bike revved and she tumbled face first into Hibari's back, her nose banging against it roughly.

"Ow," she grumbled, rubbing the bruised area, only for the boy to stop the bike completely.

"Look, I need to go to school, you can't kick me off ok," she stated, already making assumptions that this boy was going to force her to get off and walk. School was a little too far to walk; any normal person would think that.

"I'm not kicking you off herbivore," spoke the boy, his hand twisting behind his back and lightly tapping her. She didn't mean too, but at the time she cringed.

"Herbivore," he gripped her wrist and she just stared at his hand venomously, praying that he would let go soon. But he didn't, instead he placed her one hand on his shoulder.

"You're kidding me," she expressed but the boy ignored her and held the girl's hand there warningly.

"Do you want to fall off herbivore?" he hissed, his grip getting tighter, causing Nanako to wince slightly between the mixture of his chilly skin and sharp fingernails.

"Yes," she responded sarcastically, sinking her teeth into her lip to hide the fact he was hurting her a little. The hand holding hers withdrew, and she sighed in relief.

"Now do that with the other hand," he ordered and she complied straight away, not wanting him to touch her again.

"Can we just go now?" she asked eagerly, wanting to let go of him as soon as possible. The bike revved for the final time and Hibari urged the bike forwards.

As soon as they got on the road, Nanako seriously felt like she was going to be sick. _**How could anyone ride these things?**_ They felt so light. At any sharp turn it felt like it would just topple over, and merely gripping onto his shoulders didn't make her feel safe exactly.

She didn't even have a helmet either, so if she let go and fell, her brains would most likely be splattered all over the road.

What annoyed her most though was her body betrayed her when they pulled up harshly at a traffic light. She had seriously thought she was going to fall off, so she had clung onto anything for safety. She had wrapped both of her arms tightly around the boy's neck and buried her face in between his shoulder blades, closing her eyes tightly, too scared to see the ground.

"Herbivore, you're choking me," Kyouya growled and she instantly let go, drawing back as far as she could as if he was made of only the most poisonous venom on the planet.

"Sorry, I was…frightened," she whispered feebly, feeling ridiculous. It didn't help when he replied back about how pathetic she was; _**bloody jerk**_.

The light went green and the bike rolled forward, Nanako lurching forward as she forgot to hold on, her arms wrapping willingly around the boy's waist as he speed faster along the road.

Finally, after what seemed too long, they had reached Namimori School.

Opening her eyes to check if everything was safe, she noticed how she was still attached tightly to the boy's waist, her head for what seemed like the hundredth time pressed up against his back.

Beating herself up inside for so eagerly clinging to him, she waited hopefully for the bastard to put forth a comment that meant he found her disgusting, or at least something to just distract herself from her mishap.

It never came.

Getting off the bike, she felt her legs crumble underneath her. Her knees shook and with one more step she tumbled to the floor.

"God, why am I so accident prone!" she cussed under her breath before crawling towards the gates.

"Get up Herbivore," Hibari commanded in his prefect voice, "Or I'll bite you too death."

Nanako just chose to ignore the threat and crawled a couple of metres forward until she finally felt she had enough energy to walk.

Turning around, she looked down towards his feet, and spoke at a crazy speed, "Same thing afterschool. Yup. Thanks. Bye."

The boy didn't even get time to retort as Nanako was already running shakily through the main doors of the school.

* * *

><p>"Good morning Nanako-chan," he cousin greeted her but something was most certainly different with this greeting this morning. Beside her cousin, almost like bodyguards, were two boys. One she had never seen before, and one she assumed was Yamamoto Takeshi; only because the girl's in the class never shut up about him.<p>

"TENTH! WHO IS THIS SNAKE HAIRED WOMAN? Should I check her for dangerous objects? She might be an assassin," the stranger bellowed, jumping protectively in front of her cousin like a barrier.

She picked up on his hair comment but chose to ignore it.

_I have a feeling this is that kid's doing, again_, Nanako assumed as she saw someone who was clearly in mafia mode ahead of her.

"Gokudera-kun…this is my cousin Nanako," Tsuna said with a sigh, and the boy suddenly leased, bowing his head in Tsuna's direction apologetically. Almost as if Tsuna was god himself.

"I'm sorry Tenth, I shall swallow dynamite for my failure," the boy stated overemotionally and Nanako nearly choked in surprise as the boy actually pulled out a stick of the incredibly explosive weapon, it already smoking.

"Oh the fireworks are back," Takeshi laughed out happily and the dynamite immediately subsided as the boy known as Gokudera-kun seemed to rage at the other boy.

"FOR THE LAST TIME YOU STUPID BASEBALL IDIOT, IT'S NOT A FUCKING FIREWORK!" he yelled furiously at the other boy who didn't even falter, instead he just laughed.

"If you say so, if you say so," Takeshi repeated with a chuckle before turning his head in Nanako's direction, "Morning Nanako-chan."

With that one greeting, Nanako sensed little needles was prodding at her back, only to turn to see the girls in the class glaring at her.

_Seriously…what the hell?_ He had just said hello. It wasn't like who had confessed his love to her right here and now. Why was her gender so idiotic sometimes?

"Hello there," she replied back before looking over the three boys. They were friends, strange ones, seeing as the hot headed one looked like he was going to murder the laughing fool on her cousin's left side, but still they gave off that feeling like they had been friends for years. Nanako felt a little envious, she used to give off this image with a certain boy back in Shimon. Actually, the boy hadn't called her in a while; she needed to talk to him.

"Mama said you had a fever, how are you feeling now?"

Snapping out of her daydream, she realised her cousin was talking to her, and she signalled that she felt so-so.

"Well that's good," said her cousin, patting her on the back gently before turning to chat with the other two, and Nanako had the gruelling sense that now her cousin had found friends, she was shut out.

Passing the three and taking her assigned classroom seat, she wondered if one would acknowledge her presence, but none of them did. Not even her cousin, he looked too busy with his new friends. She understood that her cousin wouldn't pay attention to her all of the time, but for some strange reason, she felt like she was alone.

* * *

><p>"Why aren't you with Dame-Tsuna?"<p>

Nanako lowered the sandwich from her lips to speak as the baby perched next to her on the secluded school roof.

"Cousin Tunafish? Oh no reason really," she fibbed but the baby had caught on and sighed.

"Medusa, I'm not going have to shoot you with the dying will bullet to get it out of you am I?" the baby stated, already loading his gun with the strange looking bullets.

"If you do, will it have the same effect that it had on Tunafish?" she asked curiously, recalling her cousin from a few days before when he was under the power of the bullet…only clad in his underwear.

"Well of course," the infant declared and Nanako squeaked loudly, the idea of her running around angrily in underwear, yelling god knows what around school, was not on her list of to dos.

"I'll pass," she answered back quickly, shaking her head in the direction of the gun, but the baby didn't draw away the weapon, instead he kept it pointed at her.

"You're a very nosy infant aren't you?" she announced, feeling the barrel of the gun press fittingly against her temple.

"Hitmen need to know all their enemies' secrets. Don't they? This is a prefect method, no?"

"Hey, why am I an enemy!" Nanako cried out, the gun shifting against her temple as she fidgeted.

"You're not," the baby sighed and pulled back the firearms, "It's just an example, now tell me, what is wrong Otaku-san?"

Nanako gave in and twisted around to face him, "Well, I don't want to get in the way of Tsuna with his new friends."

"They're not his friends, they're his mafia family," the baby claimed and Nanako just overlooked that. Mafia family was probably just the infant's word for friends.

"Same thing, I don't want to get in the way you know, he's always gone on about how he's never had fri—I mean mafia family members, and now he has them, I don't want to mess it up," Nanako declared, her voice getting softer and noiseless.

"You're such a child," the baby alleged and Nanako could only agree, her face scrunching up a little miserably. A child would cry now.

"I know, I know," she put a knuckle up towards her eyes noticing that they were watering; damn she was such a big baby!

_I should be happy for him_, she thought, but then again, she felt so jealous. She wanted to be Tsuna's friend, to have that type of conversation, that friendly banter that she saw the trio have earlier in the morning. She wanted that!

"If you're so lonely, what to believe you can do change that?" the baby enquired and Nanako glanced at him through hazy tear coated eyes.

"I can stop being such a cry baby, that's a first," she declared, wiping the watery mist from her eyes.

"Good."

"And then I can," she sniffled loudly, cleared her throat, and continued on "I can find myself some friends."

"Good, go on."

"There's more?" the baby nodded and she wondered what she had forgotten to add.

"And I can…I can," she paused and pondered. She didn't want to get in the way of Tunafish, but she didn't just want to never talk to him again, she wanted to be his friend again, she wanted to be friends with Yamamoto, and possibly even that dramatic guy, Gokudera, too. She wanted to be friends with Reborn too. To be around these types of people, was what she wanted.

"Nanako, Tsuna might look like he's having fun right now, but it'll change, are you sure you want to be a part of it?" the baby asked as if he was reading Nanako's thoughts.

"If I say yes, what's the price I pay?"

"A new approach to life," the baby stated, "Sometimes it'll be fun, sometimes ruthless, this is what Tsuna will become, he thinks he has a choice now, but there's no one more suitable than him, it's inevitable."

"I don't know Reborn," she confessed. If she said yes, life would be dangerous but incredibly different, possibly in a good way, but if she said no her life would be probably safe, secure.

Which life did she want?

"Can I…think about it?" she asked and the baby simply nodded.

"I would suggest you do."

"Do you think I'm not able to make a decision right now?"

The baby just shook his head, but then taped her shoulder gently, "Do you think you're that type of person?"

"Touché."

* * *

><p>She came today without the other huge herbivore today; apparently he didn't want her now. Though she was talking to someone, he wasn't sure who though, due to the fact he didn't look over the edge from his resting place on the roof.<p>

At a point of the conversation, the girl was on the verge of tears and Hibari just wanted to tell her that she was pitiful, unattractive, but soon the phase passed.

Whoever the girl was talking too sounded like a councillor, but the voice sounded too immature for the person to be one. Like the girl was talking to a toddler with impeccable speech.

The girl discussed how she wanted friends and this time Hibari tried a little harder to hold in his tut, he wanted to hear more and not for the girl to come argue with him for eavesdropping.

They seemed to be talking about the girl's herbivorous friend, her cousin, as if he was a life changing decision.

He believed they were over exaggerating, herbivores always tended to do that.

What would she need to think about exactly? What decision did she have to make? The conversation below wasn't exactly clear. Just that it had something to do with her cousin.

That annoyed him a bit, he wanted to be know every last detail to their conversation, the background, the topic, everything.

And he had no clue why.

"Are you going now Reborn?" they were talking again, who was Reborn?

"Yes, need to go check on my certain stupid pupil, he needs training," the person replied and Hibari wondered what the other meant by training.

"See you later then," the girl said politely, also most kindly; a tone of voice she had never used on him before. Then again why would she? They didn't like each other, simple as.

He bothered to roll over from his space now, leaning a little over the ledge to look down at the girl below.

She was alone now, smiling sadly, obviously deep in thought too, as the sandwich in her hands stayed whole.

Just what was she thinking about? Soon the girl's phone rang. A song that was definitely not Hibari's taste played. It had also knocked the girl straight out of her thoughts as she picked it up.

"Hey, it's been a while, I was thinking about you earlier today," the girl announced, her mood clearly perked up. _Who was she talking to now?_

"I'm missing you," the girl went on to say. _Was this a boyfriend?_ _**Someone actually wanted to have a relationship with that idiot herbivore down there?**_ He didn't believe it.

"How come you haven't called in the past few days?" the girl asked feigning anger.

"Well just don't keep me waiting in future; I thought you might be dead, you don't know how worried I was," she joked with a few fake sniffles to conclude.

"So, how are you? Oh I'm fine. Yes! Really, I'm good. Oh him?" _Who was this him?_ The girl's face turned a little sour and she sighed noisily.

"I hate him still; no I'm not going to try getting along with him ok! I don't care, if it wants stop to being a jerk then maybe I will."

He had the feeling she was talking about him, this seemed to be the second time he had caught the girl badmouthing him to someone else.

"Do I really hate him? Why do you say that! Of course I do, but there's something about him that I don't understand," something about him she didn't understand? He was sure she was clearly acknowledged of his feels of hatred towards her equally.

"Just…no, I shouldn't, I'm sorry, you understand right. Good, thanks, this is why I love you know," the girl smiled and Hibari was even more curious to know what the girl meant, he was even a little curious to whom this girl 'loved'.

"So what have you been up to?" Hibari had heard enough of her nattering; he jumped from the ledge and startled the girl. He grabbed her phone from her hands and brought it up to his ear, even though the girl was clawing at him to reach her phone.

"_**N-Nanako-chan?"**_ the voice was timid and definitely belonged to a boy. So the girl really did have a boyfriend.

"Phones are not prohibited on Namimori school grounds during school time," he stated officially down the phone.

"Oh…ok, I'll talk to Nanako-chan later, tell her goodbye for me, if that's ok?" the boy said shyly, but Hibari had hung up before the boy could say anymore.

* * *

><p>"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Nanako's temper was well and truly riled now. How long had Kyouya been here? Listening in on her! <strong>HOW RUDE!<strong>

Not just that, he wouldn't give her phone and held it out of her reach. _Was he allowed to do that?_

"Public acts of affection are strictly prohibited on school grounds," he declared and Nanako blinked at him bemused.

_**What public acts of affection?**_ She was just having a friendly chat with her best friend. It wasn't like she was hugging or kissing him…she would never do that! And anyways, how could she do that through a phone.

"Give me back my phone, Kyouya!" she growled, jumping for it.

"Herbivore, do you really think you can call me by such an informal name? It's Hibari-san to you," he announced and Nanako just jumped for the phone again, but the boy had extremely quick reflexes and pulled it further away.

"I call your dad Hibari-san, thus I call you Kyouya, get over yourself!"

"Now if you don't mind, I want my phone back!" But he wouldn't give it back.

"Herbivore, did you not listen to what I told your boyfriend on the phone, phones are strictly prohibited during school time." **BOYFRIEND? WHO WAS HER BOYFRIEND?** _Clearly he didn't think that?_

"HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND," she squealed out and the older boy only scoffed.

"Exactly, who would want to start a relationship with an herbivore like yourself?" he explained and a smirk flickered up on his face.

"I'm more likely to get one than you ever will!" Nanako declared angrily, before kicking the boy in the shin and running off. He could have her phone for now; she would just tell her mum that he stole it from her and get him in trouble.

* * *

><p>"Nanako Euguchi, she has her mother's maiden name."<p>

"Didn't her mother remarry recently?" a person asked and Reborn turned his head.

"Yes, to someone whose son I'm certainly interested in," the baby declared, switching from a picture of Nanako to Hibari.

"Hibari Kyouya, the prefect I heard Tsuna go on about once, he's a Namimori legend I've heard," the other stated with a bright smile, "You think he's what is needed for Tsuna's family?"

"Oh most definitely," Reborn made clear.

"What about Nico's daughter?" the person then asked, his smile diminishing and his face falling into a serious expression.

"Nanako?"

"Yes, what will happen to her? I promised her mother that she would never get involved with the mafia after what happened to Nico," the man argued and the baby merely dwelled on this.

What happened to Nico was an unexplained tragedy. Something Nanako was kept in the dark about when her father had died 7 years ago.

"What she decides is her decision," the baby said without reluctance and the man beside him sighed miserably; his normally cheerful expression now stony.

"I'm sorry Arisa."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I'm currently writing this author's note in a car on the way home; feel a bit queasy really. Thanks for the reviews on the last couple of chapters, the alerts and the favourites. Someone also caught onto me basing Nanako on Megpoid Gumi, well done :D!**

**My whole idea came from a picture of that vocaloid while I sat in my room listening to like loads and loads of vocaloid music. I think my favourite vocaloid is Gumi, but then again, I'm very into the Vocaloid Screamo songs and like really heavy ones, and Miku's, Luka's and Rin's are probably the best. But then again my favourite vocaloid song happens to be Garden of Berserker by Rin (Go listen to it! :D), Guiriri's cover is amazing too, and there's a Len cover also that's awesome.**

**Sorry about my rant on vocaloid songs XD, please review and alert and stuff, as I will be a happy ducky if you do xD**

**Ok I think the lack of oxygen to my brain is killing me or sending me stupid; second idea is more plausible.**

**Oh this is me trying to attempt to pick up the story XD, i guess this is a quick update :3 I think.**


	6. Broomsticks!

_Chapter 6: Broomsticks_

Nanako didn't want to go on the bike, not after he had stolen her phone earlier and was unnecessarily cruel with her. She didn't want to harvest a chance of her clinging to him again either. So she would just walk home!

She had no other choice, she had no money for the bus, but _hey-ho_, it was good exercise.

It gave her time to see more of Namimori too. Even if the town didn't have much going for it, there were still things she didn't mind seeing. Like the shrine, and the river; she hadn't seen these yet.

Even though she had been living here for about 3 weeks.

The shrine wasn't far from the school, however it did mean she had to walk up a rather large hill and several steps that made Nanako realise how unfit she really was.

As she reached the top, she keeled over, huffing and puffing loudly.

"I'm…so…unfit," she whimpered through pants, oxygen trying to refill her lungs.

When enough had returned, she stood up straight.

First thing she did was gawp.

"Wow, this is just…" but she couldn't find the words to describe such a place. Cherry blossoms bloomed on several trees that encircled the area, a mixture of both pink and white; everything looking so delicate.

The building itself was old but elegant, she had never been to a shrine before, she only saw them on TV.

The way some of the blossom petals fell caused Nanako's eyes to sparkle in glee, it really was too surreal. The petals were almost like fairies, so very beautiful, almost magical.

"This is unusual; we don't normally get school kids here often? You here for your homework?" a voice asked and Nanako looked over to see an old man with a sweeping brush.

Nanako just shook head and the man leant on his sweeping brush, trying to think why else Nanako would be here.

"Tourist?" he considered and Nanako once again shook her head.

"No, I live here, well I just moved here 3 weeks ago, I wanted to see this for myself," she declared with a smile and the man blinked doubting.

"You've not come here just to vandalise it have you?" the man asked sternly, a suspicious eye taking in her very ridiculous hair colour.

"N-No, absolutely not! It's too beautiful to do such a thing," she protested and the man seemed to finally relax.

"I'm glad you think so, we don't get many of you lot anymore," the man said and exhaled loudly, returning back to his sweeping.

"Why's that?" Nanako asked curiously, stepping over towards the old man.

"Technology, theme parks, _the great indoors_," the man announced bitterly and Nanako winced slightly. She was one of these people who had given up on the outdoors really. Things indoors were really a lot of fun but after seeing this, she was revising her view.

"I like technology and being inside, but after seeing this, well, I wouldn't mind being here, this sort of outdoors," she declared and the man seemed to turn back and scrunched up his eyes to see if she was joking or not.

"Well least some kids feel like this, most don't, observe," the man kicked furiously at a crushed fizzy drinks can, "All they want to do is litter the place!"

Nanako found herself growling at that idea too. Then she had a thought. She wasn't all in favour of cleaning trash, but the man seemed to be struggling.

"Sometimes the youngsters' come and taunt me, they litter, and then when I tell them to pick it up they scoff and wander off, really the manners of these children these days," he grumbled and Nanako really felt sorry for the poor man.

"You really love this place, don't you?" she said and the man turned round and nodded enthusiastically.

"Of course, here was where I prayed that my wife would marry me, and she said yes, I proposed to her here too, I owe this shrine, it's given me some of the most best moments of my life," the man proclaimed, smiling back at the shrine.

"Sir, can I help you?" she said and the man instantly became suspicious again.

"What for?" his question came quick, a little angry, "I've just thought, you're not here to sell me insurance are you? Are they seriously roping kids this young into the busine—

"No sir, I meant, can I help you here with cleaning up the place and help you chase litterbugs out?"

The man paused and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Would I have to pay you? Because I can sincerely say, it wouldn't pay much," he questioned and Nanako shook her head.

"No I would do it for free."

"What's the catch? No one does anything for free anymore," the man quizzed, his suspicious eyes appearing once more.

"No catch, I just like it here, plus, it'll get me out of the house, my mother has been complaining rather a lot recently," she confessed, sighing overdramatically, before giving the old man a calm smile.

"Then, I guess you're hired."

"Brilliant, shouldn't we talk to the owner of the shrine, you know just in case he doesn't want us to clean something in particular?" she asked but the man snorted and handed the girl the broom.

"I am the owner."

* * *

><p>The girl had returned home late tonight, and Hibari listened in as he heard her mother scold her through his bedroom wall.<p>

"What do you mean you're working at Namimori shrine?"

"I asked if I could work there earlier, they don't pay me anything, well that's not true, because the owner, Kenji, gave me some money for the bus, he hired me when I said I would do it for free, but he still gave me money," he heard the girl say.

"Why didn't you ring to tell me this?" her mother asked angrily, and Hibari froze. Would the girl tell on him? What was he saying? He could take it if the woman came and scolded him, a woman couldn't scare him. He was Hibari freaking Kyouya.

"I left it at home," the girl answered back, clearly lying, surprising Hibari a lot. From her acts earlier, he thought that the first thing she would have done was tell her that he had taken her phone.

But she hadn't.

"**Unbelievable**, well don't in future, I'm glad you've got yourself a part time job, but next time inform me ok!" Hibari listened in as the mother's angry tone dwindled and out came a tone that sounded nostalgic. _Surely, their conversation wasn't reminding him of the past?_

"Thank you," the girl replied back sweetly, and Hibari almost trembled. How long had it been since he had experienced that sort of affection? Pushing it to the back of his mind, he swore he heard the two split and someone's footsteps were heading in his direction.

His door opened and the girl entered, Hibari sending a glare in her direction for entering without permission. She closed the door behind her and leant against it.

"Can I have my phone please?"

She hadn't asked angrily like she had done earlier. She wasn't growling at him, or barking at him like an angry little terrier.

"Why?" He knew he was only trying to provoke her now, but the girl for the first time kept composure.

"Just give it to me, I'm tired," she spoke through a loud yawn, and ambled over towards him, her hand outstretched for it.

"Please?"

He finally handed her the object, he had finished with it anyways. Her texts didn't give him any information of what she was talking about at lunchtime, they were just friendly useless banter with her boyfriend, oh wait, _not her boyfriend_.

"Thanks," she said turning around, but as she opened the door, she yawned again loudly, stretching out her limbs. Hibari would have been lying if he said he hadn't stared. Stared as her neck and back elongated, when her neck then rolled around steadily, and then when her shoulder blades made a circular motion.

"Night then," Hibari didn't reply as the door closed, but once it shut, he glared coldly at it. What was he playing at?

* * *

><p>"Why is that I always miss something interesting?" Nanako muttered to herself as she stared at a scene where her cousin was surrounded by more people from a distance.<p>

Served her right really for avoiding him; not that he had noticed her lack of presence. That actually made her a little mad with him really.

Standing by him now was a girl wearing a different uniform, who was extremely cute, a young woman who was also extremely attractive, two more infants, who both looked strange to say the least. One had a weird shaped head, and she couldn't actually determine its gender as she looked at it, the other one was definitely a boy, a loud one at that because she could hear him all the way from over here in her little spying place, who was dressed up like a cow. He also made Nanako want to laugh loudly as she checked out the boy's ridiculous huge afro.

"Check out the fro," she muttered under her breath, an almost silent giggle following afterwards.

Those weren't the only people that she had seen Tsuna with. A boy who was clearly an upperclassman had her cousin in a headlock while he laughed deafeningly. To add to it, he kept screaming the word 'extreme' too.

It also seemed that the school idol was there also. _Check out Mr Popular_.

_Where was I when Tunafish made all these friends?_

"Tsuna's family members, the woman is Bianchi, she's Gokudera's sister, she's actually Gokudera's phobia," a squeaky voice behind her explained and Nanako looked over her shoulder to see the child wasn't behind her but perched on her right shoulder.

"She thinks I'm pretty hot," Nanako couldn't help but laugh, he was a baby.

"Mafia men always score."

"_**Riiiight**_."

"The kids are I-Pin and Lambo, I-Pin isn't really fluent in Japanese however she's less annoying than the cry baby over there," Reborn continued to clarify, pointing towards the kid with the crazy fro. _Cry baby?_ Maybe she would get along with that kid after all.

"The girl your age is Haru, claims she's Tsuna's future wife."

"How did that happen?" Nanako asked staring astonished at the girl who was attempting to win Tsuna's affection, she would certainly develop into a beauty that was for sure.

"Tsuna saved her, so she fell in love," the infant declared and Nanako snickered, _love at first sight, __**really?**_

"What about the boy shouting 'extreme'?" she enquired pointing towards the boy who was still choking the life out of Tsuna while his laugh got even louder, a tad annoying really.

"That's Ryohei Sasagawa," the baby stated, and Nanako only nodded until she froze. _Was that boy…related to Kyoko?_

Kyoko…_Sasagawa._

"Brother and sister, very different don't you think?" Nanako's jaw dropped.

"Wow, incredibly!"

"Well Ryohei is the leader of the school's boxing club, he's nice but a bit of meathead, very protective of his sister though."

"Not surprised, she seems like a major airhead."

She waited for Reborn to disagree but he didn't, just gave her a small nod.

"Have you decided yet Nanako?"

She shook her head.

"That's ok."

"So if they're family members, do they know they're in the mafia?" Nanako asked, wondering why a bunch of kids would accept the idea so easily.

"In development, the only two that are really mafia children are Bianchi and Gokudera, as you saw with the bombs the other day, they're Gokudera's speciality, Hurricane Bomber Hayato, and Bianchi, well… just never try any of her cooking."

"So what have you been up to then?" the baby asked and Nanako thought back to her part time job.

"I got a job at Namimori shrine," she declared happily.

"What do you exactly do there?" the baby enquired.

"I tidy it up, chase off idiots, clean the inside of the shrine, I asked the old man who owns the place the other day if I could work there, it'll be good exercise really, there are a lot of steps up to that shrine," Nanako declared and the baby smirked and crossed his arms.

"If you say so fatty."

* * *

><p>"Why are you so out of breath?" the old man questioned as Nanako reached the top of the shrine, once again keeled over and panting heavily.<p>

"So…many…steps."

"Kids these days are so unfit," the man tutted loudly, before disappearing into the shrine. Nanako looked up questioningly after his disappearance.

"Kenji?"

"I'm here," he declared and Nanako jumped out of her skin as the man stood beside her, he wasn't there a minute ago…_was he secretly a ninja?_

"Where did you go?" she asked, and the man responded by handing the girl a brown paper bag.

"What's this?"

"A uniform," the man declared and Nanako took a quick peek.

"Do I get changed inside the shrine?"

"No, you get changed out in the open air, of course you get changed inside the shrine you idiot!" the man reprimanded and Nanako giggled nervously, "Silly me."

As she entered the shrine, she went for the nearest room, her feet touching the soft mats.

Emptying the paper bags contents onto the floor, she could feel herself already smiling.

Otaku senses tingling, she stared down at an outfit that looked remarkably like something she would see in her karate mangas.

Slipping it on quickly, she grinned over the feel of the soft white fabric against her skin. The fact it had no sleeves either made it so much easier for Nanako to handle the broom, no sleeves to get in her way. It also tied together with a fabric belt towards the front, making it quick and easy for her to get changed.

Folding her school uniform neatly, she placed it into the paper bag and put it to the side of the room. She would collect that later.

Once she returned, she watched as Kenji nodded approvingly.

"If only your hair wasn't that snot colour," he sighed and Nanako sighed too…_**why did no one like her hair?**_

"You sound like my mother," Nanako retorted grumpily, her hands pulling her hair back into a bobble so it stayed off her face.

"Your mother is right, you look stupid," Nanako only pouted as Kenji stated his opinion without remorse.

"Well, we like what we like."

The old man handed her another broom and she had got to sweeping, it seemed like some idiots had a field day towards the right hand area of the shrine. A pile of sweet wrappers and cans laid in a disarray and Nanako tutted loudly. _Some people just didn't have one ounce of respect!_

Putting the broom down for a second, she went over to search for a plastic rubbish bag.

Though as she plucked one from the packet Kenji left by the shrine door, a fizzy pop can rolled past her feet.

At first she thought it might be Kenji sweeping it in this direction, but after she heard a snicker instead of the man grumbling over the amount of cans around, she knew it couldn't have been him.

"Guys look, the old man has a girl helping him here," the one who threw the can stated and he was soon joined by two other males.

"Wow dude, you're correct, it is a girl," another said, looking at Nanako as if she was an alien.

Moving over towards the thrown can, she picked it up and put it in the plastic bag.

"Hey girly, do you like cleaning up rubbish?" the first one asked, and he signalled his friend to throw the drink can by her feet again and Nanako's eyebrows arched instantly.

_Was this what Kenji had to deal with?_

"Not particularly, but it needs to be done to keep things pretty, oh wait I see a _**huge**_ pile of _**rubbish**_ right in front of me," she retorted back cynically, looking at the three angrily.

The boys looked around for said pile of rubbish and Nanako rolled her eyes at their stupidity. _Didn't they know she meant them?_

Finally one of them clicked.

"That's rather rude, don't you think?" his said with a sneer, and Nanako only shrugged before picking up the previously thrown can up.

"The same could be said for your littering."

"Hey! Did she just call us rubbish!" another one finally clicked and he growled.

"I could have called you something worse," Nanako informed them with a smirk, and wandered back to get her broom, tying the plastic bag through a loop of her uniform.

Picking up the broom, she felt something smack her in the back of the head. It was a fizzy pop can, how many did these guys **drink?**

"Did that hurt?" one asked feigning a pitying tone, "I'm so sorry."

_Just ignore it_, she told herself as she picked up the can that had hit her and put it in the plastic bag.

"She's not accepting your apology, how mean," one of them cooed and she just continued to ignore them, reaching for a sweet wrapper someone had stuffed down the side of one of the benches.

After a while of ignoring them and continuing with her work, Nanako had hoped they would get bored and leave, but instead they just sat nearby and watched her. _What were they waiting for exactly?_

Grabbing another can, she placed it in slowly, noticing that their eyes were following every movement.

It was weirdly creepy actually.

"Nanako?" she heard Kenji calling for her, and she thought now the three would move, but again they stayed, each of their faces breaking out into smiles. _So this is what they were waiting for, __**poor old Kenji!**_

Soon the old man was by her squinting his eyes, he had noticed the three boys.

"Go away," the man ordered, shooing them away with his hands, already believing they were clearly here to stir trouble, "I told you three to go away the other day, you're not welcome here."

They didn't leave though; instead they just started to walk over towards them both.

"Nanako, I'm not allowed to do this because they play the child abuse card on me, but you, you can," Kenji whispered quietly to her as the boys took another step.

"Do what?" she asked questioningly, and Kenji leaned over and whispered instructions into her ear, shocking her completely,

"On the count of three, do exactly as I told you ok."

Nodding over towards the man nervously, she prepared herself.

"One," the boys were nearly here.

"Two," Nanako gulped loudly as she wondered if she could do this, she didn't want to mess this up. As weird as Kenji's request was.

"Three!"

On the mark, Nanako swung the broom from the side at the boy's legs with as much strength as possible. To her success they all fell to the floor.

"Remember the next thing I told you," Kenji order and Nanako nodded, she lifted the broom into the air before bringing the brush end onto one of them, smacking him straight in the face.

She did the same for another, but noticed one had got up and was already planning to jump in her direction to smack her.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" the boy spat, his clenched fist nearing Nanako and she looked over at Kenji ready for her next instruction, a little frightened that it would be too late once he had addressed it.

"Turn the broom around," Kenji simply ordered, and quick as a flash, she grabbed the brush end. With the pole handle facing in the boy's direction, she had fathomed out what Kenji had wanted her to do. Facing him head on, she jabbed the boy straight in the stomach with the broom, the boy instantly keeling over.

"**Holy shit that hurt!"**

The other two were already on their way up but Nanako was ready. She smacked them both again with the broom, this time to the gut, then to the face again. Bruises clearly beginning to show on their faces; she couldn't believe it. She was the one causing this damage. Weak little Nanako Euguchi of Shimon; the girl who would always got beat up for being an otaku by most of the girls at her school.

And…_and_…it felt so _**exhilarating**_.

After they were well and truly beaten, scratched from the bristles of the broom and clear bruises from the blows she had sent to them, she stood above them, grinning happily even though she was out of breath.

"Please don't come back," she said sweetly and the boy's scrambled away as quick as they could, each of them cradling their stomachs and limping.

Once they had disappeared, Nanako dropped to her knees exhausted, heavy pants getting the better of her. But even being breathless, the adrenaline pumped through her veins making Nanako feel absolutely pumped.

"That…felt…so…_good_," she admitted, gasping for air quickly and the old man only smirked.

"Not bad, not bad at all," he declared, and Nanako grinned happily back in his direction.

"D-Do, you think they will come back?" she asked regaining her breath.

"Not for a while, if they do come back, I think they'll be prepared, right now, they'll go home and nurse their egos."

Nanako sprawled out on the cobble floor beneath her. Her face was still red, and her chest hurt, but still she felt like she had loads of energy.

"I wish I had done something like that at my old school to the girls who used to smack me about," Nanako confessed, sitting up finally, and the man gave her an inquisitive look.

"You were bullied?" he queried and she nodded.

"Me and my friend, the boys beat him up, the girls beat me up, that's how it always went down back at Shimon," she explained exhaling sadly. If she had just grown some guts to do that, then maybe she wouldn't have gone home as much with so many bruises, she could have protected her friend too.

"And you were too weak to protect yourself?" Kenji questioned and Nanako nodded once more.

"I tried punching them once, it never worked, I can't fight at all, I'm just a weakling."

She scrambled to her feet and wobbly stood.

"Right then, I'll go back to cleaning," she announced, putting her foot down on the edge of the broom so it swung back into the palm of her hand.

However, she was stopped by a pat on the shoulder.

"Yes?" she asked looking over her shoulder at Kenji.

"I'll teach you how to fight," the man announced and Nanako's eyes widened.

_Teach her?_ **Him?** But he looked frail and old…wait that was mean. Did she want to fight?

Suddenly Reborn's words sprung up inside her mind.

'"_If you're so lonely, what to believe you can do to change that?"'_

She had wanted to join her cousin; she had confessed that to him.

'"_Nanako, Tsuna might look like he's having fun right now, but it'll change, are you sure you want to be a part of it?"'_

Yes, _yes she did_. To be around Tsuna, to be involved with them, to lead a life that would truly never be the same; **that's what she wanted**.

To be able to stop being a wimp, to lead a life that would make her stronger physically and mentally, yes, **she wanted that!**

'"_Have you decided yet Nanako?"_' Yes, yes she had. And if Kenji could fight like he proclaimed and teach her…this was the beginning.

"Can you fight though?" Nanako asked him curiously and the man huffed loudly.

"Can I fight? **OF COURSE I CAN!**" Nanako jumped out of her skin as the man's voice rose angrily.

"What type of fighting?" her voice quieter due to the fright before.

Nanako only got chance to see the man's fingers clench on his broom before she was lying flat on her back with the top end of the broom positioned under her neck.

"I don't remember the name for it, but it'll do, won't it?" the man declared, a satisfied smile growing larger on his face as Nanako nodded rapidly, her eyes to wide from the man's incredible speed and precision, especially for a man his age. **SHE HADN'T EVEN SEEN HIM COMING!**

"So have you decided Nanako?" the man's words were exactly like the baby's this time.

"Yes, please teach me how to fight," she asked eagerly, and he released the broom under her neck and poked the edge into her hands, signalling for her to grip on.

She gripped on and the man easily pulled her to her feet, surprising Nanako once more.

"Shall we begin?" Nanako nodded, this was the beginning.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: , this reads terrible _. So I'm trying to get Nanako actually into the mafia side of things, so it well suits with the story. Urgh, I'm off to douse my head in petrol. Urgh, now I have to get back to writing up the whole history of the BLOODY TUDORS! Which would be fun and interesting if I didn't have to sit there and record everything in my own words…it's killing me. Plus side though, I got my GSCE results today, and A* in ART FUCK YUUUUUURRRH!**

**Ok please review, thanks to ****TheFeyRa and ****novellanite12****, who reviewed last time and the people who faved and alerted. More reviews would be nice, because reviews are like well nice, but then again I won't be greedy.**

**Oh and I guess, I'll update faster if people review…but then again saying that is mean and pressuring.**


	7. Fitness Skills!

_Chapter 7: Fitness Skills!_

The girl had been arriving late home every night for 3 weeks now; each time with an explanation that she was working at the shrine, looking like she had just ran a marathon. Her face was bright red, not to mention her body, and every night she would wash two uniforms that she had to wear.

But why was she constantly washing her work outfits? That's what Hibari wondered. He had heard her claim to her mother that she sweated a lot, and Hibari just turned his nose up to the thought. But then thinking further, he wondered how the girl could sweat so much from doing such a lacklustre job. He had heard his father's wife explain the girl's job. Said that she was cleaning the shrine, _**why did cleaning end with the girl drenched in sweat?**_

The girl was either clearly extremely unfit or she was doing something else.

To see if his first assumption was right, he had watched her class in physical education. The PE teacher at Namimori was considered pretty ruthless among the students, not to Hibari, it wasn't changeling enough, but for a regular herbivore, he understood it was.

The teacher today had assigned them 50 laps around the school's large forecourt. Once the class were set off, the man who called himself a teacher was instantly shrieking at them to run faster.

Most of the herbivores soon died out after their 20th lap, apart from the occasional few; these being Yamamoto Takeshi, another was Gokudera Hayato.

They were still herbivores, yet they stood out more than the others, both being a little less herbivorous than the others. They both raced out ahead, but behind them, quite a bit away and now jogging was the herbivore.

Her face was scarlet, and it looked like she was dying, sweat dripping down her brows as she gasped for breath, but she was still going; kept going till the 45th lap before she collapsed to the floor.

Most of the herbivores had gawped at her for lasting that long. Her cousin had congratulated her too, but she quickly thanked him and turned away. There was something definitely going on between those two since after he had overhead her conversation she had a few weeks ago that sounded more like a counselling session than a leisurely chat. The voice sounded somehow familiar now, after her cousin and his friends, not to mention that powerful baby, had entered his life. He didn't bother working out the voice though, instead he wanted to work out the reason the girl came home bright red every night.

Seeing as his first assumption was eliminated, he wanted to work out what this something else was.

So he quite simply decided that he would follow her later that day.

* * *

><p>"My tummy hurts…I have stitch…have mercy," Nanako cried as she dodged clumsily the man's crazy swipes. Since they had started fighting, Nanako had come home swore, tired, exhausted, sweaty, and smelling absolutely revolting, it really wasn't pleasant, but what she had noticed was he fitness level at certainly elevated. Like today, when they were running earlier, she got really far; her teacher gave her a thumbs up; which was considered amazing seeing as the man was infamously evil. Even her cousin had acknowledged her, for the first time in weeks. She hadn't known how to take that, so she had just thanked him before rushing off quickly. Though she was strangely happy that he had praised her for how well she did, I mean he was one of the main reasons she was changing. So one day she would be suitable for his future lifestyle.<p>

"You're getting sloppy," Kenji warned, swinging his weapon he had exchanged the broom for a couple of weeks before.

Kenji used a long steel pole, and for the last 2 and a bit weeks Nanako had just been learning to dodge the pole as it nearly swiped her constantly to the floor; there had been more than several trips to the floor let's get that clear.

She wondered when Kenji would stop teaching her how to dodge and go on to teach her how to wield a weapon like his own.

But she couldn't argue, or even say this as she was still dodging the man who never got tired…_**ever!**_

The man finally stopped and Nanako thanked god it was over.

"Some of your dodges were a bit messy but then again not that bad," the man praised her and she gave him a drained smile.

"So, shall we get back to work for to—

But Kenji never finished as he swished the pole back at her, but somehow this time, Nanako had seen it coming, dodging it completely.

Again they started, and Nanako had wanted to groan but instead she decided it was best to concentrate solely on dodging once more. She would show him that she could do this!

Kenji swapped attacks and sent a frontal attack in Nanako's direction, the pole ready to bash her on the head. _Was Kenji testing out her blocking methods?_

Quickly crisscrossing her arms, she positioned them to block, the pole crashing down on them, but it did protect her head. To say it didn't hurt would be lying. Nanako could well and truly declare it stung like a bitch but she was rather too busy attempting to dodge and block another swipe to her face.

The attacks reverted back to the ones where Kenji was aiming to send her to the ground with a full on swipe at the side of her stomach, but instead Nanako grabbed onto it, held the pole between her clenched fingers as the metal stung terribly against her bare hands.

The pole swished above her head, but still she clung on tight, feeling like she had done this before.

Soon it was getting too much to hold, as she was getting jerked about violently by Kenji's trying to force her to release. With most of her strength she had left, she let go but not without a shove in hope for Kenji to fall. The man's knees quivered but he didn't fall. She still felt accomplished somehow.

The man brought the pole beside him and tapped it against the ground for her attention. They were finished now.

"Well done," he applauded and Nanako looked at him wearily in case he was to start again, "I'm finished child."

Her shoulders drooped as she relaxed, and even though it was a small action, it had never felt so rewarding on her body.

She dropped to the floor, ignoring the fact that it hurt her backside, and brought her knees in, hugging them protectively.

"You're getting better," Nanako just gave him a weak thumbs up, before rolling her shoulders around, clicking all her joints to avoid seizing up.

"What's the time now?" The man held his watch up eye level and inspected it thoroughly.

"I think we can finish early for tonight," Nanako almost jumped up and screamed in applause over that suggestion but the likelihood of doing that right now with her exhausted state was not very plausible.

"So back to work then?" she asked getting shakily to her feet, _now where had she put her broom?_

"No, I mean you can go home now," the man informed her and Nanako examined him curiously. _What was the catch?_ _**This wasn't him distracting her until he attacked her blind was it?**_

"Don't give me that look child, just accept it as a reward for your good work today."

Nanako's face lit up like a beacon and she rushed back inside the shrine to get changed. Maybe she could have dinner with her mother tonight.

Changed back into her school uniform, she put the clammy uniform in her Death Note backpack. She was covered with sweat again today, not as much, but she probably didn't smell like roses. Grabbing out a deodorant can from her rucksack; she walked outside, not wanting Kenji to complain about the smell in his home and sprayed it copiously over her body.

Her hair was surprisingly dry today for a change as she took it out of the bobble and let it go.

"See you tomorrow then Kenji!" she yelled from the shrine steps happily, before waving her arm around crazily.

The man just eyed her as if she was deranged before waving his broom at her,

"Be careful on your way home," and with that Nanako had walked far enough ahead that Kenji disappeared behind the mountain of steps.

* * *

><p>Hibari had watched her, up in a tree around the shrine. At first, all she did was sweep, Hibari inspecting this in case this was the cause of her tomato face the end of the day. But after half an hour of sweeping, an old man entered the scene brandishing a long steel pole. He initially thought the man was trying to assault the girl, but the girl didn't scream or run, as a matter of a fact she started to dodge effortlessly. Ducking as the man swung at her sides, successfully blocking attacks as they came speedily from above, and then finally seizing the pole between both her hands, just like the day she had grabbed one of his tonfas. This certainly wasn't the same girl was it? She seemed agile, light on her feet, though he could hear her constant whinging through most of the battle. It dawned on Hibari after the assault came to an end that they both were training.<p>

The girl seemed to bring up sweeping again, even though she was collapsed on the floor very unladylike but the man appeared to be sending her home early that night.

And he had watched as she had left too. Jumping down from his hiding place, Hibari was about to return home himself, but was stopped by the older man's voice, the one the girl called Kenji or something,

"You can come out of hiding now child," the fact he had called Hibari child wanted to make him knock the man's block off, but respect the elderly and all, even though the man was clearly an exceptional fighter.

Hibari stepped forward into the clearing, keeping his tonfas hidden for now.

The man ahead seemed to be squinting as if he couldn't see him very clearly, but Hibari could tell it was an act or he wouldn't have seen the boy in his hiding place.

"So, what are you doing here?"

Hibari watched as the man slowly moved to a bench opposite him, before he answered his question,

"Looking over Namimori," he stated and the man merely scoffed.

"**BAH!** Looking over Namimori _my backside_, what's Nanako to you?" the man asked curiously, placing both of his hands on his lap.

The girl? _To him?_ _**An annoyance**_.

"Someone in my life I could do without," he replied and the man raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

"_Lies_, you're a young lad, she's a young woman, why don't you admit you fancy her—

Tonfa and broom clacked together and Hibari stared back at the man venomously,

"You don't know me herbivore, that herbivore is nothing to me."

"Says the person who's been watching from a tree since she's been here," the man retorted mischievously and once again Hibari sent a blow in the man's direction but the old gent was obviously a lot more experienced than he appeared and blocked it effortlessly.

"Shall I repeat it again, she means nothing to me," Hibari barked, bringing his other tonfa to strike the man but again it was blocked.

"You're not bad kid, in fact, you're good, you know what," Hibari stepped back as the man seemed to struggle getting up, again with this act, "It's been a while since I've had a good fight, fight me kid."

Hibari liked this change of subject; this would keep him entertained for a while, but also keep his mind off a certain idiot herbivore.

* * *

><p>"This is a change, you're home surprisingly early for once Nanako-chan," her mother greeted her as she opened the door and cheerfully made herself announced.<p>

"Well, Kenji let me off early tonight, as a reward for all my efforts," she explained ad her mother clapped her hands together happily a lot like her aunt would do and smiled.

"That's excellent Nanako-chan! I think you deserve these back now," Nanako watched inquiringly as her mother reached down into her handbag and threw an object over in Nanako's direction. Catching the object easily, she felt this day couldn't get any better.

"Oh my babies, I thought I would have never seen you again," she cried overdramatically as she cradled her returned goggles in both hands, hugging them to her face, her mother raising an eyebrow before actually laughing.

"Are they really that amazing?" her mother asked and Nanako just nodded fervently to prove how much she loved the things.

"So, what's for dinner?" Nanako questioned but then blanched, it wasn't that her mother was a bad cook but do remember she used to make mystery food X before her sister taught her the basics.

"Whatever Akio is bringing home, takeout probably, I was going to ask what Kyouya wanted but he's not in right now, he's normally always in before you, it's strange," her mother declared but Nanako only shrugged. Well this day was getting even better, now she would get more food and she wouldn't have to see him too. _**HIP HIP HOORAY! THREE CHEERS FOR NANAKO HAVING THE BEST DAY EVER!**_

"Don't look so happy that he's not here Nanako, I thought you two were getting along," her mother pouted and Nanako straight away put on face that clearly said 'oh I'm just kidding, I love big brother really', god she never knew her cheekbones could hurt so much.

Suddenly the door opened, and Nanako popped her head round the corner of the hall to see Akio in the doorway and behind him sadly was his son. _Still a good day_, she believed, trying to ignore the boy, but there was something that felt different about him.

_Did she dare say it?_ He looked exhausted, _what the hell had he been doing?_

"Alright everyone ready to eat?" Akio declared lifting up a plastic bag that smelt really damn good, and Nanako's tummy grumbled loudly, _oh she was definitely ready for food._

"Are you alright Kyouya?" her mother asked concerned, gently tapping the boy who just nodded his head, but as soon as soon as her mother turned around the boy rolled his eyes. _**THE NERVE!**_

_**She was just being considerate you infuriating arsehole!**_

The knives and the forks went on the table, and for the first time ever, Nanako noticed they were having a family dinner. One that consisted of every member of the household present. Yet this felt like no family.

The husband and wife just looked like a childless couple with glaring at each other roommates on the other side of the table.

"I don't know who looks more like a married couple, us or them two?" Nanako heard someone say and Nanako turned and gave both adults her best _I will kill you_ look ever; though it never seemed to work.

Dinner ended shortly and Nanako actually helped her mother clean up, to tell you the truth she had got used to cleaning since she had started her job.

To the point where she found it fun…_scarily._

Nanako retreated quickly away after, noting that both adults were having a moment with each other, again trying her hardest not to gag. But there was something that was also gagtastic that she needed to sort out. Bunging her uniform in the washing machine, she turned it on quickly and headed at the speed of light for the bathroom, what she needed right now was a nice shower.

* * *

><p>That old man had really taken him to town with their fight; Hibari would have to surely fight him again. The man was extremely powerful, actually drawing with him towards the end, actually drawing! <em><strong>Hibari never drew!<strong>_ _He always won._

Right now however, he felt surprisingly cold.

Sneezing, he grumbled at the action. It seemed that he had cold.

His head burned but he chose to ignore it, getting up and heading over towards the bathroom.

He didn't expect to be greeted with the herbivore; he thought she would have gone into her room by now.

Wearing small pyjamas shorts and a top to match, her eyes quickly darted in the direction of the intruder, a toothbrush in mouth.

"Oh…it's just you," she said through a mouthful of toothpaste before spiting it out into the sink. _Gross._

He only glared, his eyes signalling for her to get out, but instead she just smirked, brushing her teeth in the slowest way possible.

_**Annoying woman!**_

Yanking the toothbrush from her mouth and throwing it at the bathroom cabinet, she yelled out in protest.

"Hey!" Hibari watched as the girl got ready to smack him, but soon his vision went hazy. _Damn cold, Hibari Kyouya doesn't catch you._ Before he could steady himself on the bathroom sink, he fell, bringing something soft down with him.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **

**THANK YOU PEOPLE! 7 REVIEWS LAST CHAPTER! AWWWW YEAH, THANK YOU THANK YOU! AND THANKS FOR EVERYONE WHO FAVED AND ALERTED.**

**Nanako has to get herself somehow involved with the mafia, but I decided she can't just appear and be like 'HI EVERYONE, I'M SECRETLY AN AMAZING FIGHTER AND SO CLEARLY MORE AWESOME THAN ALL OF YOU, WATCH AS I WIELD SEVERAL WEAPONS WITHOUT ANY OUNCE OF EXPLANATION OF HOW I CAN!', so like anyone who wants to learn something new, I decided, that she will need to heck lots of training, because if not I would have to say she's a superhero…and that would be mary-suish; not that I really care .(I do really! That's what my friend would say anyways).**

**OKAY! I'm actually trying to develop a couple at the moment, and I'm destroying Hibari in the process I think; nuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu, this isn't what I intended, Hibari is amazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzing :D**

**Ok please review and I'll send everyone an imaginary Nyan Cat that will fly around anyone you want it to, whether you choose to annoy people who dislike it, or just love the song yourself. Personally, I love it, but it really does bug my mother, I follow her around the house with it, ah life is good :D.**


	8. Hospital Coffee

Big Thanks to poakkis, ZucchiniPiupiu, Czekanie, TheFeyRa , YuujouKami , novellanite12 for reviewing, you guys made my day, seriously :D

Thanks also to everyone who faved and alerted too.

* * *

><p><em><span>Chapter 8: Hospital Coffee<span>_

One minute the bastard was getting pissy about her being in the bathroom and next minute Nanako was pinned to the floor, her head throbbing, by a collapsed teenage boy, and _man_ he was heavy.

"**OI"** she yelled loudly into the boy's ear, it only a few centimetres above her, in hope the boy would stir and get off of her, because she was clearly having no luck shoving the boy off. She tried to sit up, hoping that her stomach muscles would elevate them both, but the boy just happened to be crushing that part of her body too. _Man this was awkward….wait a second, maybe the boy was playing __**a horrible trick!**_

"I've get it now you _bastard_, this isn't funny, now get off," she ordered smacking her hand against his back sharply, but only silence followed, his body still crushing hers.

She leaned forward only a little, and her forehead brushed his and she swore she would have jumped a mile if she hadn't been pinned. _Why?_ The boy's forehead was scorching!

She lifted her arm up a little, and touched the bare skin on the boy's arm, man he was flaming there too.

"K-Kyouya?" she called once, squirming underneath the boy in order to wake him, as much as she hated the boy, she didn't want the guy to knock himself into a coma. _**Didn't he know that when you're dizzy you've got to stay awake?**_

Panicking, she took a different approach, and tried to pull her leg free from underneath the boy. With one leg free, she curled it around the boy's waist and swayed to her side trying to lever him. Her first effort failed terribly and she was left panting on the floor, shaking the boy once more to see if he would wake and move himself. He didn't stir, she was really worried now. Wait, she was worried?

She hated this guy…_**wait that's not what you should think right now!**_

She tried again, managing to lever the boy up long enough to push him up with both hands and on to his back. However she followed afterwards, clearly forgetting she had a leg around the boy's waist. Leg now crushed under Hibari, she half straddled him.

Laid like this really brought Hibari's face into question, _his cheeks were flushed_, _no his whole face was flushed_; she needed to somehow lift him; move him onto something more comfortable than the bathroom floor.

Pulling her leg out from underneath him, she nearly felt like collapsing over herself, man it definitely felt well and truly trodden on. Ignoring this though, she stepped over the boy's arms and pulled both of them up. Yanking him up to the best of her ability was a struggle but soon she had both arms under his armpits to keep a hold of him as she dragged him slowly from the bathroom to the living room were their parents resided. As she pulled him along the hallway, she began to yell, the boy seemed weightier now. _Heavier than all her manga combined. Heavier than that huge bag of trash Kenji made her carry down those steps. __**Just damn flipping heavy!**_

"MUM!" she tried yelling again, her voice getting hoarse from frantic screaming. The woman better have not thought she was overreacting this time and come to her rescue because the guy was getting heavier. Finally giving up, she slumped against a wall, the boy slumping weightily onto her.

"Hey, please wake up," she begged as she felt the boy's hot breath tickle her neck. It was a weird sensation, one she had never felt before. She didn't know if she liked it or not, the boy's skin brushing against hers, the fact he was in her arms…_**wait a minute?**_

She nearly dropped Hibari in disgust.

"What the hell was I just thinking!" she choked in disbelief. _Why would she think such a thing about this foul jerk?_

"Nanako-chan, what are you yelling about?" her mother's voice finally appeared from around the corner and Nanako took now to seize the chance to get the well-deserved help she needed,

"Help me! Please! It's Kyouya! I'm not kidding, he's collapsed, please help!" Nanako soon heard a pair of footsteps, both her mother and his father appearing into the scene. The first thing she heard was her mother gasp and then the woman ran to get what Nanako assumed was the phone.

Akio on the other hand, noticed Nanako's discomfort and his son's wellbeing and scooped the boy off of her, putting the boy's arm around his neck.

"Are you ok?" he asked in her direction and Nanako just nodded slightly, her body aching.

The man was struggling to hold the boy, and even though Nanako's body already suffered from the strain of holding the boy, she knew she had to help. Grabbing the boy's other arm; she looped it over her shoulder, Akio gave her a surprised look.

"Come on, we better lay him down somewhere soft for now," she commanded hastily, and the man agreed.

Once Hibari was laid down on the sofa, Nanako's mother had already called an ambulance.

The room stayed silent from then on.

* * *

><p>When Hibari woke up in the hospital the day after, he hadn't been prepared to see her sat by his bedside, evidently asleep on a chair, her head flopped forward.<p>

He couldn't really remember how he had got here, but he remembered one thing for certain. She had helped him. The herbivore had helped him. It pissed him off completely. Carnivorous creatures didn't need help from herbivorous ones like the girl resting in the chair.

Through hazy memories, he recalled her skin all over him; it made him feel peculiar. He didn't know if the idea made him repulsed or not.

The girl had smelt like strawberries, possibly a shower gel, probably a bit too sweet, but then again it wasn't disagreeable with his nose.

Leaning forward, feeling considerably better, he noticed on the girl's head were those scruffy goggles again. The woman had given them back to her. However, they weren't put on like normal, instead of sitting comfortably on her head; they were slopping to the side, green strands of hair sticking in odd directions.

She was back to looking even more ridiculous, but something did catch Hibari's eye in particular. On one of the strands was a tiny patch of dark brown. Did the girl just have something in her hair, or was that what he thought it was?

Shifting himself quietly, not to wake her, he pulled the long strand towards him with the tips of his fingers. The girl's hair was much softer than he had anticipated; even though it looked incredibly dry thanks to the dye that clung to it.

Inspecting the tiny patch, he rubbed a finger over it. It definitely wasn't something caught in her hair, this was the girl's natural hair colour.

His inspection had to be cut short however when he heard a groan coming from her direction.

"Urgh, worst night sleep, _ever_," the girl whimpered, opening her eyes gradually, still half asleep.

She yawned loudly, stretching her arms about as if she was at home but then froze, her surroundings sinking in.

"That's right the bastard collapsed last night," the girl said quietly and Hibari raised an eyebrow. _Had the girl not seen him inches away from her, sat up, well and truly awake?_

Her stupidity was simply off the charts.

"Herbivore," he decided to make himself known and the girl nearly fell back in her chair, clutching her chest alarmed.

"FUUUUUU-! H-How long have you been awake?" she stuttered, looking at him with wide eyes.

"Who's a bastard?" The girl suddenly then blanched, picking up her chair and taking it back a couple of spaces as if she was safe.

"You are!" the girl's confidence seemed to be back, her tongue poking through her lips.

Hibari just tutted at her childishness and rearranged himself comfortably.

"Herbivore, what are you doing here?" The girl paused at his question before crossing her arms and sinking back into the chair comfortably.

"Both Mum and your Dad needed to go to work, so they thought it would be good if least one family member stayed here."

_Family member? Had this girl just insinuated that she was his family?_

"_Family member?_ All I see is an herbivore," he declared and the girl's eyebrows arched rapidly.

"Well, someone had to stay by poor, sick little Kyouya," the girl spat out angrily but her expression seemed to quickly change into a smirk, "Did you not want to see me _Nii-san_?"

_**Had she really just called him that? **_

He would have grabbed his tonfas if he knew where they were and attacked her right there and then.

"Shut up," he said threateningly and she merely sighed.

"Unless our parents split from each other, that's what we are," she retorted, her teeth sucking on her bottom lip grumpily. She sighed once more, "Do you think I want to be your little sister any more than you want to be my big brother?"

With that she got up from her chair, scraping it against the floor a little as she stormed for the door.

"Even though you're a mean bastard, do you want me to bring you any coffee or anything?"

_Was the girl actually serious? What was with this considerate act?_

"I mean you are my brother and all."

_**He was not her brother!**_

Hibari just sat in silence, glowering at her, resisting the urge not to strangle her.

"Fine suit yourself, I'll be back in a bit," she informed him and Hibari wished the girl would never come back, _just disappear._

_He wasn't her brother. __**He wasn't.**_

* * *

><p>Nanako thought she would buy the jerk coffee anyways, two steaming polystyrene cups in her hands. If he did anything that pissed her off she would just chuck one at his face; that pretty boy face of his.<p>

She paused…_**did I just think he was pretty? EW! **_

She was nearly ready to douse herself in scolding hot coffee for a second until she heard someone calling her.

"Medusa," it was Reborn, again making fun of her hair, what was he doing here?

"What are you doing here?"

"You're Dame-Cousin is in the hospital," he enlightened her. _**Tunafish was in the hospital? What for? Was it serious? Was the boy dying? Had one of Reborn's bullets been a real one and killed or sent the boy into a coma?**_

"Otaku, your face is a picture, he's fine, just broke his leg training recently, you can go see him if you like," Reborn stated and Nanako could already feel the relief worming its way through her body as she exhaled.

"So are you going to see him?" Reborn questioned and Nanako hesitated. _Seeing him for a while wasn't going to hurt her was it?_

"I think I will, but only for a bit," she looked down at the other coffee, she would let Tsuna have this one, her stepbrother could just wait.

* * *

><p>"Hey Tunafish," Nanako poked her head around the door only to see the room her cousin was staying in surrounded with intimidating men wearing black suits.<p>

"I'm sorry Tsuna," a foreign voice declared from inside the collection of men and Nanako attempted to push her way through.

Towards the end of the testosterone circle was her cousin in his bed, and a tall blonde man who's visibly toned biceps were covered in tattoos.

"I didn't mean to trip," the man would have probably looked handsome or cool easily if he wasn't apologising like a little boy being told off, his actions a lot like her cousin's in a way.

Coughing to state her presence, both of the male's eyes turned to her instantly and she smiled a little, waving in Tsuna's direction.

"How you feeling Tuna?" she asked, her tone significantly caring as she inched a little closer to the boy's bedside.

"N-Nanako-chan? What are you doing here?" Nanako wanted to frown when she saw the alien look he was giving her. Was it not a good thing to visit a family member in hospital? Then again she had been avoiding him for what seemed forever.

"Reborn told me you were in the hospital, so I thought I would take a visit," she explained, clenching her hands together nervously around the hot polystyrene cups, a little worried about what the boy thought of her for avoiding him. _Would he bring it up?_

"Oh ok," he replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck a little embarrassed.

"Hi there," the blonde man said and Nanako looked over in his direction noticing he was acknowledging her.

"Oh hi," she responded half-heartedly, her eyes meeting his face for only a brief second, and the man held out his hand to shake.

"I'm Dino, it's nice to meet you," the man declared and Nanako just affirmed the greeting with a polite nod. There was no need to be rude to this man; the guy seemed like a nice fellow.

"D-Dino is also a mafia boss Nanako-chan, those are his men," Tsuna pointed out and Nanako looked over towards the blonde; his appearance certainly looked mafia boss, his manner however did not.

"Oh, so you know about Tsuna's situation then?" the man asked curiously and Nanako nodded, after Tsuna himself, she was the first person to meet the infant with his life changing proclamation for the boy.

"Oh I see, and it doesn't bother you?" Nanako could have said it did and it didn't. If she was in Tsuna's shoes, then yes, it would have bothered her terribly. As exciting as being a mafia boss was, it wasn't really what a kid wanted to become in the end. Mafia bosses were criminals weren't they?

But then again, the life Tsuna would lead would never have a dull moment. That sounded great, brilliant, but was she being sensible?

"I don't know really," she confessed grumpily and the man just gave her a half smile.

"Sometimes I feel the same."

Nanako turned towards her cousin, and then glanced at the cups in her hands,

"Here, its milk coffee, it should make you feel better." She handed the cup over to Tsuna carefully, who took it gratefully, taking a sip. Nanako couldn't help but smile a little as the boy's shoulders noticeably relaxed.

"Well, I have to go, hope you get well soon Tunafish, and nice meeting you Dino," she announced hurriedly, not wanting to interfere any longer as it seemed both of the men were itching to talk…in private. Both of their eyes glanced in her direction for mere seconds, both of them giving a small wave as Nanako dashed out of the room.

* * *

><p>The girl had taken her time, and not just that she had come back with one coffee and not two, and to add oil to the fire, she sat there drinking it in front of him.<p>

She finally caught on and stared into the cup, then scowled, "I asked you, and you didn't answer."

That was true, but after she left, the idea of the hot drink seemed rather appealing, especially for his still sore throat.

The girl looked absently at her coffee before she handed it in his direction.

"Here, there's still more than half left, drink it," she said handing him the half-drunk drink. He just stared at it like it was diseased before taking a tentative sip, trying to analyse which part the girl had drunk from, he didn't want her herbivore germs.

"So how are you feeling?"

Hibari felt better actually, the sleep had done him well, and not to mention the medicine he had taken.

"Well, you look better," she said, fiddling with her goggles on her head, it now sitting much neater than previously that morning.

"Right then," Hibari glanced in her direction as she slapped both palms down on her legs, making a loud noise of announcement, "You're better now, so I'm off to work."

"Work, herbivore?" The girl nodded, she was unaware that he knew she didn't just work. As she turned her back, he picked up a piece of fruit that the hospital had given him as a present and threw it in her direction. It was as if the girl had heard it coming, she took a quick step to her side, dodging the apple completely, as she reached for the door. Due to this fact, the apple made a considerably loud noise as it hit the door instead of the girl.

"Urmm…why did you just chuck fruit at me?" the girl asked, turning her head over her shoulder, an eyebrow clearly raised.

He didn't reply, instead she just picked up the apple and lobbed it back at him.

"**Don't waste fruit!"** With that the door shut and she was gone, leaving Hibari and a few patients in the room, who were all staring at his and the girl's interactions with curiosity.

_What was the girl training for?_ The thought crossed his mind as he lay down to sleep, his hands reaching around the side of the bed and clearly locating his tonfas.

He turned back to the patients left in the room, wielding the weapon, each of them jumping or gulping as chills ran up their spines.

"Let's play a game, any of you herbivores make a noise, and I'll bite you to death, oh and by the way, I do wake very easily."

* * *

><p>Nanako reached the shrine a little late today, after accidently leaving her uniform at home due to the night at the hospital.<p>

Fully dressed already, she ran hastily up the stairs, and noticed a broom at the top of them. Grabbing it, she pretended like she was always here, sweeping away.

"So you decided to show, why are you so late?" Nanako cringed as a reprimanding tone appeared behind her and she rotated to see Kenji's grumpy face.

"A relative of mine was in hospital," she argued, continuing to sweep, hoping he wouldn't question further now she was here.

"The hospital is close to here Nanako," the man reminded her and Nanako sighed defeated.

"I left my uniform at home," she confessed and the man seemed pleased with that answer.

"That sounds more like it, just don't be tardy again, and…"the man crossed his arms and seemed to suck in his cheek as he concentrated on something sitting on the crown of her head.

_Was there a bug there perhaps?_ Smacking her hand against it, hoping to kill the possible crawly critter, her palm only collided with her goggles, no dead insect present. _Oh now she got what he was staring at, the goggles. _

_What would he make of these?_

"Why do you have pilot goggles on your head?"

"Because, there are super-duper cool," she declared, bringing them over her eyes like sunglasses, striking a little pose.

"Again, you look like a big jumble, that hair, those pilot goggles, and the uniform look totally mismatch," the man made a point and Nanako had to agree there, but she still loved it!

"Does your mother not teach you how to dress?" Nanako just pointed out something that her mother would repeat to her when she asked for more money for her manga budget.

"_I'm an adult now_, so it's in my rights to dress and choose how I look," she said, sounding rather sensible even though there was nothing adult by the way she looked. And by the disapproving sound that left Kenji's mouth, the man could only agree with what was in Nanako's head.

Kenji didn't nag any further however; instead he banged the edge of his broom three times,

"30 minutes of cleaning the area, then training begins today."

30 minutes and then torture, she nodded and was about to wander off, but by the clear of throat from Kenji, it indicated the man hadn't finished,

"And today, prepare yourself; we're swapping topics today from defence to offense."

Goosebumps rose in Nanako's arm, but she wasn't scared, she was excited, incredibly so.

With a big smile, she clenched the broom between both hands and rushed off to get to work. Today, she could finally learn to fight back.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So urmm, this chapter sucks, the apple bit with kind of Mary-Suish, sorry, thanks everyone for the awesome reviews and stuff, I love you guys. Thanks for the favs too and the alerts, made me incredibly happy!**

**Please review again, and I'll be happy once again, thanks you guys. Oh and the fact Hibari is in a hospital is due to the fact he was earlier in the manga, or anime, loved that bit, shame the English translation of my manga book made Hibari say 'howdy' to Tsuna, I couldn't stop laughing. Least its not as bad as Ryohei and 'LEAPING LIMPITS!'**


	9. Bathroom Towels!

_Chapter 9: Bathroom Towels!_

They had started with basic combat, no weapons involved. Just in case her attacker was coming at her when there was no weapon present. You know, so in future she didn't bludgeon her attacker to death.

Kenji, considering his previous skills with the steel pole, was also significantly amazing in his ability to use his fists and legs. At a certain point, Nanako had actually wondered if she was being taught by the real life equivalent of the sensei from the film the karate kid, but that seemed like an understatement when the man demonstrated more than just karate moves. Karate, boxing, kickboxing, capoeira, the list of his skills just never ended. _**Who was this guy? **_

After the man stopped demonstrating the moves –which seemed like forever seeing as there was about a hundred of them- he finally stood beside Nanako and started to explain basic punches she could send at an opposition. Uppercuts were apparently excellent if targeting the jaw. Punches to the side would help her send blows to the enemy's sides of course. And finally there was a straight punch that could be sent anywhere if decided, the face being the best place to target if possible.

He instructed her to try them out but as soon as Nanako got to work, he instantly stopped her, and out came his reprimanding tone, "Your punches are sloppy, clumsy and have no strength behind them in order to do damage," and she couldn't disagree with him. Her punches never did damage! She had tried to punch her bullies in the past but that only lead to them laughing at her then beating the crap out of her even more!

He repositioned her arm, pulling it back to show her how much pressure she should use, what angle was correct, and how to clench her fist.

At first she kept tucking her thumb into between her curled over fingers but as soon as she had thrown that punch, Kenji had grabbed the hand quickly, halting and flicked her sharply on the hand.

"Never, and I repeat never, tuck your thumb in," he cautioned her as she nursed her abused hand in the other.

"Why?" she had retorted, trying to control her voice from sounding clearly like a whine, "What harm could it do?"

"Break your thumb idiot," ok that had clearly put her in her place.

The rest of the afternoon, they had concentrated solely on the punches. It seemed that Nanako needed a lot more training than she thought.

* * *

><p>When she got home that night -and it was late- she had collapsed onto the nearest comfy chair in the house.<p>

She was in desperate need of a shower more than anything, seeing as she smelt awful. But her body was begging her not to move.

There was no one in the house yet surprisingly. Then again work sometimes drew on longer than normal for both the adults of the household, and the devil incarnate was still at the hospital. So Nanako took the time to rest longer, her mind wandering as she relaxed.

The house was painfully quiet really, she didn't want to admit it but the idea of having the arsehole in the house was a lot more comforting. Right now, the house just seemed big and scary.

"Damn it, I won't be a wimp, I won't be a wimp," she chanted to herself to pick up her spirits, before launching herself off the chair and down the hallway.

As she reached the bathroom, she swore she heard a noise, and in turn locked herself in it quickly, turning the shower on to mask away the noise.

_It's just my imagination_, she told herself as she quickly stripped of her clothes and jumped into the shower.

The sound of the running water had actually made her feel considerably better. Not to mention the hot water did wonders on her strained joints.

It took Nanako 30 minutes to finally say goodbye to the shower, as lovely as it was, staying in there any sooner would probably make her woozy.

Getting out, she grabbed the nearest towel and wrapped it tightly around herself. She hadn't brought any clothes to change into the bathroom; however she didn't think this was a necessity being the only one in the house.

Opening the door, she took a peek just in case, and then nodded happily over the fact the coast was clear.

Though, as she went to open her bedroom door, there was a noise; a clear indication that someone else was in the house.

At first, her body had remained stationary. It wasn't till she pinched herself that she came back to the real world and tried to guess who it was.

Her guesses went solely on either her mother or Akio. Kyouya was still in the hospital, so it couldn't be him.

"Hello?" she called down the hallway and waited for a response. She didn't get one. _Now that was strange_, she knew her voice was loud enough for the other in the house to hear, so why hadn't they answered?

She tried again, only to be ignored once more.

Her mother would never ignore her, and she thought Akio would have the decency to say hello like he normally did, so this was getting even weirder.

With her thoughts finally creating an answer, her stomach shrivelled and squeezed into a tight ball.

There was a burglar in her house. _In her home_. And now…_**the burglar had heard her?**_

_**What would they do now they knew she was here?**_

The noises continued to appear and Nanako nibbled her bottom lip in frustration. She couldn't just let this person rob _her_ house, _no_, _Akio's home_. The house he had let her and her mother into comfortably. _**She couldn't just not do anything! **_But at the same time, she was scared, so scared that her legs had seized up and refused to move.

"I'm not scared, _I'm not scared_," she continually repeated under her breath, her eyes shut tightly as if it all was a bad dream, her fists clenched as she wished her body would move.

"You take down this person, just do what Kenji taught you," she muttered quietly, her legs finally acquiring the ability to move again.

She smiled weakly, before clenching both of her fists. She had forgotten that she was only clad in a towel, but in all honesty she didn't think this was considerably important right now. She tip toed as quietly as she could to the front of the house, before peering into the dark kitchen.

_Yes, someone was definitely moving around in there_. And by their build, it was positively a male, their shoulders were a bit too broad to be considered a woman's…unless said woman was an muscle increasing nutjob.

Slivering into the kitchen, she hid behind a cabinet, preparing to attack the criminal who was now only inches away.

When the man moved away from the cabinet, she seized her chance, throwing a banana from the kitchen fruit bowl in his direction to distract him, before attacking head on with a punch that resembled the ones Kenji had taught her earlier.

Though what she hadn't expected was someone so skilled. The person instantly caught her wrists into vice grips and without difficulty pinned her against the fridge.

The lights seemed to turn on then and she was faced with an extremely pissed Kyouya.

"W-What are you doing here?" she demanded, aware that the boy should still be at the hospital and not home.

_So if he was home, did this mean his dad or her mum had brought him back? _

Unable to use her arms due to the fact she was still in the clutches of someone who shouldn't be home right now, she leaned a little to her side, to see if either of the parents had walked through the door.

"I came home by myself herbivore, I'm not a child," well that certainly answered Nanako's question.

"Shouldn't you be at the hospital?" Nanako spoke in a tone that reminded her of Kenji when he told her off for her sloppy attacking style, this causing her to briefly forget she was pinned.

"The hospital got boring," he said with a yawn and Nanako just raised her eyebrows.

_Well hospitals aren't really supposed to be fun are they?_

Nanako's attention then turned towards her captured wrists, then to something she had completely forgotten about earlier…_she was only clad in a short bathroom towel._ _**She was only clad in a bathroom towel! WHY WAS SO STUPID?**_

Shrieking loudly, she threw her wrists back against the fridge in order for the boy to free them. Though it was definitely not the right idea as Kyouya, who was holding them, hadn't seen this coming.

Now Nanako really thought the time was appropriate for a shriek, but her mouth didn't budge. The boy was only centimetres away from her now; it was almost like the time the night before, except she had let that slide seeing as he was ill. However currently, the boy was well and truly conscious.

If Nanako moved forward right now, her lips would have hit his; the same could be said on his behalf.

_So what could she do?_ Between shock, and actual embarrassment, she couldn't say anything. All she could do now was stay perfectly still until the boy moved away.

Her eyes flickered up to his for a second, as to ask him what was going on, but the boy didn't answer her, nor did he move. He just stared, his gaze only flickering momentarily to her lips, which caused her to swallow.

Anyone walking in right now would totally take this the wrong way, what with her pinned to a fridge only dressed in a bathroom towel, then again…_what was going on right now? Why wasn't he moving?_

Nanako's heart pounded in her chest, and her stomach felt real funny, like someone was tickling it with feather light fingertips. Even though it was stupid, she even took a look down there to see if Kyouya was tickling her. But then again the boy didn't have more than 2 hands, and both were occupied with her wrists. And the idea of the boy ever tickling anyone seemed less likely than a dodo walking the Earth after years of extinction.

His breath brushed her face, and she had only prayed it be rancid to knock her out of the weird daze she was falling into. But it didn't, even though the boy had been sick hours earlier, his breath smelt perfectly pristine with the hint of mint too…toothpaste?

And then finally the boy's face pulled back, only a little though, and his head seemed to tilt.

"K-Kyouya?" her mouth had uttered the word, her voice sounding wobbly, and like usual the boy hadn't replied, though instead of his normal glare, he seemed mesmerised by something; absolutely tuned out.

Whatever it was, it was something currently on her face.

It couldn't be food, she hadn't eaten yet, and it couldn't be dirt because she had just been for a shower, this explaining her current lack of clothes.

_So what was it?_ _**What was he staring at?**_ She didn't like this. **She didn't like this one bit!**

The boy's eyes suddenly flickered with life and Nanako felt relief worm its way through her body. _He would let go now! He would call her repulsive! Insult her; probably hit her with the silver sticks of doom!_

_This was it_, she was waiting for _**this**_.

But as she had wished for this to come, the boy's face was slowly closing in on hers, sending Nanako's heart and mind into a frantic state.

At a tantalising pace, he got closer, and _closer_…_**too**_…_**close!**_

Suddenly the door made a noise, and a voice sounded from the door,

"Nanako, is that you?"

It was no other than his father, and when his voice was heard, she couldn't describe how fast Kyouya had lurched away from her and onto a nearby chair, his eyes fixated on nothing but the wall across from him.

Nanako's senses all hit at once, and her stomach had lost all sensations from the moment before thankfully. However, she really needed to get changed now.

Dashing down the hallway, she paused, remembering that she hadn't answered the man at the door. Only earlier she had thought that the man had decency to greet her, and her assumptions had been correct, so it was only good manners if she replied back.

Just before stepping into her room, she turned on her heel.

"HI! I've just got out of the shower, wait a second! Off to get changed! You've probably seen Kyouya is home," she yelled, before pacing quickly into her bedroom and shutting the door.

As soon as she was alone, Nanako had crumbled. Her lips trembled, her eyes watered, her throat felt dry as if she swallowed a mouth full of sand.

But that wasn't the worst thing about it. When she managed to move over to her mirror, she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Her cheeks shone immensely. Like all the blood in her body had come rushing to her face.

It was as if someone had chucked red paint on her. Or perhaps got a big tub of blusher and simply smudged it all around her face.

She didn't like this face. There wasn't an ounce of happiness or relief, all that was there was fear. Sheer but silent terror.

She never wanted to see this face again…_**ever.**_

Chucking on any clothes quickly, not caring what she looked like, she quickly headed back to the bathroom.

Next the sink turned on and in went the plug before any water escaped down the drain, and with a quick swoop, Nanako's face was plunged into freezing cold water. Only to be continued again and again, until her face had turned a sickly pale.

* * *

><p>"What are you doing home?" his father sounded unpleased, but as of right now that wasn't on his mind.<p>

The only thing of his mind was the fact he was going to kiss the herbivore.

_**Was he sick in the head? Why would he do such a thing?**_ To kiss someone who was clearly the empathy of everything he loathed, everything he wished that would just disappear from the face of the Earth.

"Kyouya!" This time he turned his attention to his father.

"What?" By the look on his father's face, it was clear that he had spat the word at him, the man's eyes darkening.

"Don't speak to me like that!" It had been a while since his father had got this angry, he had forgot the weak man could possess such a tone.

But he didn't remain in this tone for log, his mouth gaping like a face over his actions.

"I'm sorry, you must feel better son," his father had muttered, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, with a guilty look on his face, "I heard your sister, so she's home, good, I think Arisa is bringing in the food tonight, it'll be take out again."

_Sister?_ _His father was actually referring to that girl as his sister?_ Then it hit him, he hadn't just nearly put his lips to something he despised but to also someone most people would have thought was his sister.

_**What the devil is going on?**_

Hibari stormed straight to his room, and closed the door louder than he should of.

In his own company, his tonfas were out in a flash, taking out revenge on things around the plain room.

First his mirror smashed and Hibari didn't even flinch, in fact it felt good. He didn't believe in the suppositious bullshit about breaking a mirror brought bad luck so he moved onto the next item. A small vase was the next thing to be in pieces on the floor, followed by several books, the pages littering his room.

Soon he would have to stop though, he was never much into smashing things he owned, other people's possessions felt great when crushed under the pressure of his tonfas, his own…not so much.

Feeling a hell of a lot better, he flopped down onto his bed, and closed his eyes tightly, ready to fall straight to sleep. His thoughts were cruel on him though.

Instead of the blank mind the boy wished to have, his were filled with the scene only 10 minutes ago.

First he had let himself in, that was fine, then he had heard the girl greet him and he hadn't answered back, that was normal, he hadn't bothered to turn the light on and then went on to open the kitchen cupboard to get a glass, this was normal, what was not normal was a banana flew past his head and when he went to pick it up, the herbivore had jumped him; actually attacked him. He had grabbed his attacker thinking it was someone else.

Then for some strange reason, the lights in the house seemed to spring on, and she was glancing up at him in surprise…_only sporting a bathroom towel._

His natural assumption at the girl's attack and her natural surprise was that she thought someone was breaking in, but to only fight dressed in a small bathroom towel was beyond ridiculous.

At first, she hadn't seemed to react about him seeing her like this. But he had reacted, reacted disgustingly. His eyes had trailed along her arms that he pinned above her head, and then they got to work down the rest of her body, slowly inspecting every area of uncovered skin as he answered her questions uninterestedly.

She had made a loud noise, Hibari wondering if he had been caught staring, but instead he was lurching forward as the girl flung her arms back alarmed against the fridge.

It was the girl's fault that his hormones had kicked in. She had brought him so close, that he could examine everything on her face, feel her warm breath against his lips, and she didn't move; didn't even budge as if she wanted Hibari to merely do anything to her. Like she was his prey and it had become submissive.

She was his prey, he felt guaranteed a taste.

That's what made his mind throb and one of his tonfas smack callously against a wall.

He needed to drive her out, as soon as possible, before he turned into something he was not.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Urrrrghh, did I just try to create couple development? Nuuuuu, I think I failed this chapter…I feel ashamed now, let's hope Hibari fangirls won't want my death for writing garbage. Need to write more about Nanako's fighting training whatits next time, oh and for anyone who wondered, Nanako will not become a guardian.**

**Cheers to all who have reviewed last chapter and alerted and faved. I love you all. 30 reviews is freaking epic; never had that much on an OC story before, so thank you thank you thank you!**

**If you don't mind, I would love it if people continued to review and fav, and alert, because well that just makes my day :D.**

**Sorry this one came out late, not to make up excuses, but the next one might be out late again also due to the fact my mother is forcing me to find a job and I started sixth form a month ago…it's bloody difficult…damn for being dumb.**


	10. Shrine Maiden Punishment

_Warnings: This is probably absolutely terrible thanks to an awful case of writer's block OAo *hides*_

* * *

><p><em><span>Chapter 10: Shrine Maiden Punishment<span>_

"What was that all about?" Nanako stomped furiously down the street. It had been a week since the accident in the kitchen, and even though it had been a week she couldn't get the whole mishap out of her head. Much to her dismay, this meant when it came to fighting lessons with Kenji she ended up distracted by her inward battle to fathom out what went down in that darn kitchen, and as a result this hadn't sat well with Kenji at all. In fact, Kenji had prohibited her from going to the shrine for a week which made her feel like screaming.

_**This was all that devil spawn's fault!**_ It crossed her mind that maybe Kyouya was playing a sick joke, playing with her emotions, and for some reason, she could understand that. What with the strip tease in order to get his shirt washed that one time and the other time he had rudely shoved his cold fingers up her shirt!

_Did he get some weird high from it?_ Maybe her confusion and fear was entertainment for him. Then again at the same time, a little voice in the back of her head was saying other words. _Was he really playing a joke on you Nanako?_

Even though the words existed, they seemed to be clouded by the others. _**Why on earth would those words make any sense at all? **_The boy clearly hated her, and she knew they didn't get on exactly, she just didn't really understand what his beef was with her.

He seemed unnecessarily cold to everyone, but to her he seemed more _devious_. Whatever it was, that picture she had seen ages ago sitting in that secret draw, made her wonder if Kyouya had been abducted by aliens at a young age and they had then injected the sadistic gene into him. Or maybe he always been that way and the picture was misleading.

Then again, his coldness could have been due to the lack of that woman in that picture. She sank to her knees, and scrunched her hands in her hair. No wonder she couldn't concentrate on her all-important lessons, her mind was swamped with her damn stepbrother!

"Stupid! **Stupid!**" She cried under her breath, her hands fisting her hair wildly causing the green tresses to stick out in random directions.

Her curses were cut short though when her mobile started to ring loudly, her anime song for a ringtone playing for all to hear. Opening up the phone quickly, she noticed it was an unknown number.

Normally she wouldn't answer these, due to the fact that in the past unknown numbers always meant bullies with their prank calls. However, this time, she considered herself braver, even if she was crawled up in a ball on a street getting pissy about one person.

"Hello this is Nana—

"**NANAKO! **Get to the shrine right now," Nanako nearly jumped as the other person screamed at her down the phone in a gruff grumpy voice. _**How had Kenji got her number?**_

"Hurry girl," he ordered again and Nanako just felt herself nodding…but then again…_**wait a second!**_

"Didn't you tell me I couldn't go to the shrine for a whole week," she retorted grumpily, noticing that the man was clearly going back on in his word. In all honesty she was happy she could go back, _but what if this was all a trick Kenji was playing on her which would result in her getting scolded?_

"Don't answer me back child, get here now!" The man's stern tone of course was final, the phone on his line went dead, leaving a rather scared Nanako sat listening to the hung up dial tone.

"Ok then, no goodbye Nanako then, just yell at me and then hang up," she grumbled over the rudeness over her boss and trainer. Getting to her feet, she brought her hands nervously to her chest and heaved a sigh.

She just hoped whatever Kenji had in mind for her didn't involve her getting told off.

* * *

><p>"S-so I'm h-here," Nanako said through heavy pants, her body bent over as she coughed loudly. The lack of Kenji's training had cut her exercise down, which Nanako's case meant all she did was read manga books, watch anime and play video games; all of these of course great for exercise.<p>

So because of this, running from across town didn't make her feel very great, in fact her sides felt like they were about to split and in turn her guts would spill onto the floor.

"Took your time," she heard the man complain and to this she just rolled her eyes. _Maybe if he hadn't banned her from the shrine in the first place she wouldn't have had this problem. Not just that, he could have called her earlier, you know, giving her a warning and all._

"So?" she asked, her hands rubbing together nervously as she waited to see what he wanted. The man's hands moved behind his back, and for a second Nanako thought he was going to hit her on the head with his broom again, it wouldn't be the first time. Closing her eyes and awaiting the familiar pain, she did feel something wooden tap her on the head lightly.

"It's not a surprise stupid girl; you don't need to close your eyes," her eyes opened when she heard him grumble, and instead of the broomstick she was so used to sweeping up with, there was a different broom, however, it look a bit too weird to be a broom.

The bristles on the end weren't exactly bristles, in fact they looked more like little bits of fabric, so how would that help for sweeping? And why had Kenji handed her the broom upside?

Turning it to point to the floor, she prepared to the sweep the ground with it only to be smacked on the head.

"OI! Don't do that stupid girl!" Kenji yelled at her angrily, and Nanako gave him a confused look. She was just using the broom how it was supposed to be used. Did Kenji not want her to clean?

"But I'm just sweeping up," she countered, giving him another bemused look.

"This ain't a broom!" _**Then what was it?**_

He snatched the broom –oh wait the not broom- from her fingers and turned it back upside down again.

"It's a shrine maiden pole idiot!"

_**AND HOW WAS SHE SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT?**_

Before she came to Namimori, she hardly knew anything about shrines, let along bloody shrine maidens.

"Nanako, due to your sloppiness last week, I'm punishing you!"

_Say what?_ But, she hadn't been that bad. It wasn't her fault that she had a bastard for a brother, who enjoyed doing weird things to her in order to fuel his own weird sadistic enjoyment.

"B-But—

"**No buts!" **It seemed the man was final. But then again, Nanako still wasn't clear on what her punishment was to be. All she knew was it involved shrine maidens, and that weird looking broom.

"Saturday, there is a festival up around this shrine," the man told her, and Nanako's eyes lit up. _**A SHRINE FESTIVAL!**_ Now she had read about those in her mangas, and from what she could tell they were usually really fun, or something quite dramatic and interesting happened at them.

"Really, that sounds cool," she said, trying to control her excitement. _Remember Kenji said this was a punishment, it probably won't involve you having fun at the festival_, she thought to herself, trying to dumb down her hopes so they didn't end up shattered. Anyways, if she did go the festival, she would look lonely as hell. And from what she learned from mangas again, that most of these places were either filled with couples or groups of friends, she had neither.

She needed her friend here, but alas the scarlet haired boy was still all the way back in Shimon.

"Don't get excited," Kenji said basically reading Nanako's thoughts and she nodded in response, biting her lip over what her punishment would be.

"At this weekend, there will be a shrine maiden dance; however it lacks a 'maiden'," Kenji informed her and just like that, all the pieces meddled together. He had given her the stick, so she would be the shrine maiden, which would require her to dance. There was just one problem with that…_**SHE COULDN'T DANCE TO SAVE HER LIFE!**_

The only dancing she ever did was secret dancing in the company of herself because she was bloody terrible.

"B-B-But I can't dance," she cried, her voice stammering all over the place thanks to what Kenji was saying. If she was to fail with the job, people would then recognise her and she would die of embarrassment.

"Look all you have to do is move that staff around gracefully, be graceful, that's all," the man replied back but then smacked a palm to his face,

"Then again, graceful probably isn't a word in your vocabulary."

**Ok now he was just being mean!**

"I can be graceful!" she argued back, crossing her arms over her chest grumpily, "I just can't dance!"

"You have the same grace of that of a teenage boy Nanako; I'm going to have to teach you."

So he had insulted her, _check_, and now as punishment she was going to humiliate herself, _**great,**_ and to add a cherry to the top of the cake, the man had totally put her down and said she lacked any femininity, _**just peachy.**_

She was not going to enjoy this training one bit.

* * *

><p>"Back up straight." The broom hit her mid-back and what seemed like the hundredth time, Nanako had straightened that slouched back of hers. It had come to mind that her bad posture was probably down to her favourite pastimes, which made her kind of wish she had sat up straight more often; she was sick of getting smacked in the back already.<p>

It was Thursday, which meant she had 1 day and 8 hours to complete this training, and become graceful. She had tried to get out of it, but Kenji had a backup plan and had told her if she didn't do it, he would never train her again. Ruthless and cruel, but yet it had worked.

Her back ached, her arms did too, as holding them up for a long time and gradually lowering them had got to her puny muscles.

"You really don't have a graceful bone in your body do you?" Kenji asked rhetorically and Nanako sighed answering it anyways.

"I know you've said that…40 times now."

"That's because you're supposed to catch on!" **Well she was trying to!** He hadn't given her time to prepare for this, nor had he given her the reason why he wouldn't just ask somebody who had well…**experience!**

"_Kenjii_," her mouth drawled out as she attempted to keep up conversation and concentrate on her moves.

"What?"

"Why don't you just ask someone who can dance?" she questioned, attempting to lower her arms for a brief second of comfort but once again they were poked back into action by her boss with the broom.

"First off, don't slouch, second, I don't know any young women apart from my granddaughter and she lives in the city, and third, I don't want to hire anyone, so you'll do, cause you're free of charge," the man made clear and Nanako slumped a little in defeat, and noticing this the man once again tapped her with his broom.

"**I SAID NO SLOUCHING!"** Yup, Nanako certainly felt like crying right now.

Beginning again, she moved the staff above her head in a gradual circular motion. Her teeth gritted a little as she continued concentrate, and to her surprise, her movements had actually started looking quite good…very graceful.

"Oof," though obviously not good enough for the man as she was hit once again with that flipping broom.

"What did I do wrong now?" she cried out, the stick falling from her palms as her arms hit her side.

"Your face, you looked like you were constipated or something," Kenji said sternly and Nanako was really ready to curl up into a little ball and sob.

"Geez," she huffed, falling to her knees now, "I don't know what's worse, the training exercises or this flipping dance routine."

"Stop complaining girl! It isn't that difficult, even I could do something that easy." And just like Nanako was laid on the floor crying, but not in misery.

The idea of Kenji with a long girly wig and make-up, wearing a dress and dancing with an equally girly expression filled her mind. Frightening as it was, she couldn't stop laughing. Tears swelled up in her eyes, and she fell forward onto her stomach, giggling harder.

The man above didn't look amused, but through her teary eyes, his gaze had softened a little. Still clutching her stomach, she convulsed as she got slowly to her feet, still hunched over as little giggles escaped her lips.

"I don't know why, pfft, but I imagined you in a dress and stuff, that's really brightened up my mood," she announced, feeling noticeably a lot better, her stepbrother kitchen incident actually beginning to disappear from her mind.

The man tutted loudly and just rolled his eyes, but still he didn't seem as mean as before, "I'm glad to see you're having fun not doing what I asked, just like in training last week."

The man lowered his broom, and then his eyebrow raised, his lips pressed into a tight line as if he was thinking.

"Nanako, what was your reason for your head in the clouds act last week?" Her giggles instantly halted, and what she hoped had disappeared from her mind began to resurface.

"Well, urmm, just family trouble I guess," she mumbled under her breath, and she took a brief glance at the man's disbelieving look.

Well technically it was family stuff, she hadn't expected her supposed stepbrother to try and kiss her, least she thinks that's what he was going to do, aww man she didn't even known anymore.

Turning on her heel, she faced the older man and began to raise a question, "Hey Kenji, did you ever have any siblings?"

The man paused, made a low humming noise and then nodded, "Two, a brother and a sister."

"And how did you get on with them?" she asked curiously, leaning in a bit further. She had been an only child before the last month and a half, so she had no idea what it was like to have a brother most of her life. The only person she could compare to being like a brother was her crimsoned haired buddy back in Shimon, but still he didn't really fit the brother role.

"Me and my brother, we would fight all the time, you know how boys do, but I liked my sister, treated her like a princess, like all brothers should, why do you ask?"

Nanako stopped to think. Apart from the weird kitchen scene, all her and Hibari did was fight…he certainly didn't treat her like a princess, so, does that mean…

'_We would fight all the time, you know how boys do'_ Kenji's previous words echoed in her head and she deadpanned instantly.

_**Did that mean Hibari thought of her as a boy?**_

"Never mind Kenji, _never mind._"

* * *

><p>Hibari had tried to approach the girl all this week, but for some reason, she had become the master of dodging. Every time he would approach the girl, she was out like a shot, her face bright red. He wasn't at all surprised; he had tried to ki—<p>

_**WAIT NO HE HADN'T!**_ He bit his lip hard and cursed lightly as he felt the sharp sting of probably the start of a bloody lip.

She had been on his mind. For many reasons, some he would like to erase. He was still trying to figure out a way to chase her out of his life without a fuss; fuss meant more crowding, crowding he never wanted, simple as.

However, he still hadn't figured out a plan yet, in fact he was having trouble trying to figure one over his prefect work and her bloody face.

She had started to look different the past week. She was for a start a lot paler than usual; this made her rosy cheeks stand out even more, like some jolly fat ugly old man…_a cute fat jolly old man_…_**URGH!**_

His imaginations were getting the better of him, but he couldn't understand why. Maybe it was because he wasn't used females being around him. Maybe she was actually seducing him and making it look like it was his fault, but that idea just seemed ridiculous. Her seducing the great prefect of Namimori or anyone for that matter was just a ludicrous idea. So just what was she doing to him? Confused, that's what he was and he could say for a fact he was never confused, so this girl was doing something intentional to throw him off and turn him into something he hated.

Maybe this was her way of getting revenge on him. _**Well two could play at that game!**_

* * *

><p>Nanako stormed up the shrine steps and all the way through the street, her face red from running and her breaths heavy. Damn her mother for telling her to hang out the washing then fold the rest of the clothes! Now Kenji was going to be moody over her tardiness.<p>

Saturday had rolled round quicker than Nanako had hoped, her nerves already getting the best of her as she begged to god that all her training had paid off and she wasn't as terrible as she started off as.

Stands had already started to set up surprisingly, filled with all sorts of unusual games and goodies, and she could only think of how should would love her best friend and her to come to go to something like this one day. There was nothing like this back there, she had a feeling it was something he would like.

The festival would begin at 3, well that's what Kenji had told her, and she would be performing at 6, so why she had to get here for 1 she didn't know.

Getting set up wasn't exactly difficult, all she would have to do was stand in a spot and attempt to gracefully swing around the shrine maiden sticky pole thingy me bob.

Finally reaching the very top of the steps, she ran into the direction of the shrine, literally jumping through the doors, ignoring incoming protests telling her to be careful and to stop messing around from stall owners.

"Kenji, I-I'm here," she cried, stumbling through the hallway to the room she normally found the man in.

Falling over exhausted, she saw a different set of feet, those weren't Kenji's.

"Nanako-chan?"

That was most definitely not Kenji's voice. It was familiar, boyish, almost could sound cheeky, she had heard that voice plenty of times; it had only been directed to her once though.

Eyes travelling up, she saw a long pair of legs wearing jeans first –Kenji would never wear jeans-, the next thing she saw was a broad torso wearing a plain casual t-shirt, that was then finally followed by the tan and attractive face of her classes idol, Yamamoto Takeshi.

_**What the hell was he doing here?**_

* * *

><p>AN: What the fuck have I just written? I needed this chapter out of the way, because I wanted to bring the festival Tsuna and that lot went too, cause that included Hibari, and hopefully this will lead to Nanako's stupid fighting style and bring her back in with the boys. Also I wanted to least have one friend, or interactions with one of the other mains…so I will explain Yamamoto's part in it next chapter, along with more Hibari next too, and hopefully Nanako actually doing something of purpose.

Hibari is so out of character in this chapter it hurts, then again no one really know what goes on his head :')

Hope this was ok, sorry for possible mistakes and stuff, and occness, and mary sureness, and everything urrrrgh, need to calm it down.

Reviews will be appreciated, thank you. OH AND THANKS FOR THE TOTAL OF 42 REVIEWS ON MY STORY! ITS MADE ME SO HAPPY! *hands you a virtual jam tart* take that as a reward.


	11. A new 'friendship?

Ok update, hope its ok….*cries* the title for this chapter is so unoriginal that it hurts.

* * *

><p><em><span>Chapter 11: A new 'friendship'?<span>_

_Well this is embarrassing_. That's all Nanako could think of as she laid on the floor by the school's baseball star's feet, her mouth opening and closing like a goldfish. What was Yamamoto Takeshi doing here? Without a word, she studied him, looking him up and down for signs that could possibly indicate why he was here. He was wearing casual clothes, they suited him well. In his right hand was a box, which he held attached to some string. In his left hand, was another box, bigger than the other one, but still held with string so it was easier to carry.

"Nanako-chan?" Her eyes flashed up to the movement of his lips, and then moved up towards his raised eyebrow; this is what knocked her out of her little study session of Yamamoto Takeshi.

Gasping loudly, she buried her face into the mat floor and felt like cursing_. Staring at him like that will just make you look creepy, you stupid girl_, her mind told her, and with this her cheeks flared up.

"H-Hey, you ok?" the boy above asked, and she looked up briefly to gasp again as he was leaning over her, closer than he was before causing her to squeak a little.

"Yeah I'm **FINE!**" God, she was almost yelling, this wasn't happening. Trying to distract herself from how silly she was being, she went back to thinking about why he was here in the first place.

Did Kenji know him? She hadn't thought Kenji would be one for socialising with kids very much, seeing as he seemed to loathe them, or torture them with really difficult exercises. Damn that man.

"That's good," the boy said, a rather nice and cheerful smile breaking out onto his face, which caused Nanako to blush for a different reason. So this is why the girls liked him…it was almost like a spell…_**did that mean Yamamoto was secretly a seducing wizard?**_

She smacked her head repeatedly on the mat covered floor, as she considered how stupid her thoughts were.

"Are you—

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" she insisted, her cheeks even redder.

"Nanako, what are you doing girl?" Nanako's head snapped over in the direction of her trainer's voice as it appeared out of nowhere, but she ended looking upside down, well as far as her neck could stretch backwards before it was inhumanely possible.

Two squinty eyes glared down at her and her once red cheeks blanched. She crawled forwards away from the man, and then climbed to her feet.

"N-Nothing!" she cried, her back straight in command as she prayed to god this would make sure she didn't get another scolding from her teacher; him and that broomstick of his was flipping lethal.

The man just tutted before he turned his attention to the boy in front, "Afternoon Takeshi."

"Afternoon!" the boy replied back happily, and Nanako raised an eyebrow. Why did Kenji seem to use a more pleasant tone with this guy?

"How's your father?"

"He's great thanks; I brought the costume like you asked. Can I ask what it's for?"

_Costume?_ She wondered what they were talking about, and if so how could she get in their conversation, she felt a bit awkward standing on the other side of the room like a lemon.

"Tonight, I thought it would be nice to have it on display," Kenji said and the other boy smiled.

"Yeah, I think mum would have wanted that."

If it wasn't just her imagination the boy's smile dimmed then, and even though she knew it wasn't her place to ask, she couldn't help feeling curious.

"Ah, I was meant to ask you, where is a good place to set up a stand?" the boy asked, that smile relighting as he handed Kenji the box.

The old man took it gratefully and then pondered, his free hand scrubbing his stubbly chin.

That's when he turned to Nanako, beckoning her over with a finger.

"Nanako will you show you a good place, the girl knows this place well," the man said with a warm smile but Nanako almost scowled at this, it was clear Kenji was just too lazy to show the boy around himself.

"You will?" the boy's eyes seemed to light up at this, and it almost looked as if he was going to grab hold of her hands but she pulled them behind her back just in case.

"I guess," she said, attempting to put on her most cheery of voices but even still it didn't sound very amused.

"Lead the way Nanako." Before Nanako could walk herself an arm placed itself around her shoulders, leading her out of the shrine.

* * *

><p>"Yup, this is a perfect spot; it will get noticed for sure," Yamamoto responded happily as Nanako showed him a place just below the steps leading up to the shrine itself. The fact that she was being praised actually made her feel a bit chuffed really, her face a little red thanks to the appreciation.<p>

She watched as Yamamoto grabbed two free chairs from around the area and placed them down in the spot as if to stake his claim. He sat on one of them and leant back, releasing a happy groan as if to say thank god for the comfort of the chair.

So now she had found him a spot, she thought she should probably get back up them steps before Kenji scolded her, but then again, if Kenji didn't want her to dilly dally or be late, then why had he sent her off with Yamamoto?

Preparing to walk up the stairs, she felt her wrist seized and she looked over her shoulder surprised.

"Why don't you sit with me?" Was he really asking that? No one ever asked her to join them, unless it was her mother.

"Is that ok?" It was a silly comment but she asked anyways, giving him an anxious glance to see if he wasn't joking.

"Course'!" She found herself tugged down into the seat next to him, and she gave him another anxious glance as he grinned over at her, his fingers still wrapped around her wrist. Gently tugging her wrist free from his grip, she gave him a small uncomfortable smile, before resting herself in the chair.

"So, how do you know Kenji-san?" The boy questioned, seeming to not notice that he wasn't holding her anymore.

"Ah, well, I work here at the shrine," she answered honestly, reminding herself of her job, after tonight's festival it probably meant twice the cleaning, _god damn_.

"Really? Doing what?" He sounded genuinely interested, and friendly which caused Nanako to relax a bit more, her body reacting a bit more like her, meaning her seating arrangement got a little less lady-like.

"Cleaning, I offered, because it's such a beautiful place don't you think?" If anyone had looked at her now her eyes would have probably been sparkling with enthusiasm. The things she loved about the shrine most was the cherry blossoms, the fact you could see the whole of Namimori if you stood by the stairs, and not to mention the beautiful old building that was the shrine.

"It's nice to hear people say things like that, my mother used to say stuff like that all the time, took me here when I was a kid, we would stare at the sunset, her, me and dad," he explained, a warm smile spreading out on his face as he spoke and Nanako found herself smiling with him. Man, that smile of his was contagious, no wonder so many people liked him; part of her was rather jealous.

He leant back a little more, tilting his head over the back of the chair, giving Nanako a view of mainly his neck, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down in his throat as he went on to speak again, "Hey Nanako-chan? How come you don't come and see Tsuna very often? He is your cousin."

"Wha…urmm," well she was stuck there, she wanted to see him, she just chose not to, only when she was strong enough would be an appropriate time to show herself to Tsuna, then again, she was missing her cousin like mad, not to mention he hadn't even made an effort to come visit her. From what Reborn had told her though, the boy was most likely busy 24/7, "I just, haven't had time you know, what with work and school, ha-_ha_-haaa."

Her laugh sounded pathetically weak, and she watched as the boy's head turned. He was looking at her now, directly, his eyes meeting hers and he liked, well serious…which she thought was a bit alien on a boy of this calibre.

She wondered why he looked so serious, had Tsuna mentioned her? She doubted it, but then again, if so why was he bothered, why would he ask her? This was weird, felt almost like he was questioning her. Instead of more interrogation a hearty laughter erupted from the boy's throat, and the boy's previous serious look had disappeared, almost like it never had been there in the first place.

"Yeah, dad told me that Kenji-san can be tough on people, good man though," yeah Kenji was definitely tough, but she could least say he was a nice person though, even if he was constantly hitting her with brooms and what not.

"So what was it that Kenji had you deliver here?" Nanako asked, thinking back to the box she had seen Yamamoto give Kenji, which reminded her, what was in the box by his feet?

"Oh that, my mother's old kimono," Takeshi replied and Nanako knew once again her eyes would be gleaming. There were always kimono wearing characters in anime! She had never worn a kimono either, nor had her mother, her mother was more into western clothes thanks to her father.

"And that's going to be on display tonight? Can't wait to see it," she announced, obviously excited, this causing her to miss the little smirk on Yamamoto's face.

Noticing that she was fangirling, she snapped out of her acts and tried to distract herself by pointing down at the box by his feet.

"What's in there?" she leant over a little, poking the white cardboard box with a finger. The boy picked it up carefully and placed it on his knee. He then proceeded to untie the string, his fingers working quickly and skilfully to undo what looked like quite a difficult knot. If it was her undoing that knot, they would have been here for at least 2 hours…or maybe 7…screw that, more like the end of time.

Gradually and gently, he lifted the lid and she leaned over more to peek inside. In the box was three different things. On one side there were several chocolate bars, also a shaker full of hundreds and thousands, on the other side there was…sushi?

_Strangest arrangement ever_. Staring at it a bit more intently, she heard the embarrassing sound of her stomach groan for food; this was thanks to her mad dash to the shrine. The boy heard it too because without warning he picked a piece of sushi up and pressed it to her lips,

"Eat."

Yes, she knew her cheeks were red now. She was getting fed by a complete stranger…then again, one day he would be her friend, least she hoped. Parting her mouth slightly, she hesitantly took the bit of sushi from his fingers, attempting not to graze him at all with her mouth full of germs.

Chewing once, and then chewing again, she felt a delicious taste swarm around her taste buds.

"Oh g_ommmmmmm_," she knew speaking with a full mouth wasn't a lady like thing to do, but this was godly. This piece of sushi was probably the most delicious thing she had tasted in her entire lifetime seeing as her mother couldn't cook, and when her father was around his cooking was better but not exactly fantastic.

Sad to be finished, she stared down at the other bits of remaining sushi, before quickly sneaking a begging glance at Yamamoto in hope for another piece.

The boy just chuckled, before picking another piece up and placing it near her lips again. Eagerly she snatched it with her teeth but then slowed her pace as she chewed.

Whatever was in this small combination of ingredients tasted so freaking good, even better than pocky, or chocolate cake. Then again it was a weird thing to compare it to.

Swallowing the last bit, she tried to be polite and not ask for another bit seeing as it wasn't hers, but she did need to ask where he got it from.

"Where did you get that sushi? It's like my taste buds are partying!" she explained not caring that she sounded completely ridiculous, even though her description of such a delectable treat was face palm worthy.

"You liked it that much huh?" the boy said rather pleased with himself, "It's my dad's, he runs a sushi restaurant, I help him make it."

"Really? That's awesome, I wish I could do something good like this too, I'm so useless…if you don't mind me asking, can I have another bit?" she said eying the box and then him again with a cheeky little smile on her face. The boy nodded and her fingers hastily entered in and out of the box, the sushi devoured in seconds.

"It's literally the best thing I've ever tasted, you would make a good wife," she said before hiding her face embarrassed as she saw the shocked look on the other's face making her regret her words,

"I mean husband! **HUSBAND! **Oh god! I'm so sorry!"

"HAHAHAAHAHA!" She jumped when the boy laughed exceptionally hard, throwing his head back over the chair, "Never in my life have I been called wife material, do you really think I would make a good wife Nanako-chan?"

Knowing he was laughing, she decided to take the joke further and nod repeatedly, "Why of course, much better than me, you can cook, what more would a man want?"

She winked and the boy just shook his head as he tried to hold in chuckles.

"You're strange," the baseball boy announced and she could only agree, well it wasn't like she was the sanest person on earth, she had green hair for starters and apparently to Kenji, her mother and several others, goggles weren't everyday accessories of a normal person.

"So I'm told, but what's so fun about being normal," she said confidently and then sat back a little amazed. She was acting like she had been best friends with this guy for years, and for some reason, it felt like a different type of friendship than what she had back in Shimon. This one was bubbly and talkative; the one at home was quieter but playful. Could she count this guy as a friend…then again, it was possible this guy was just being friendly without even caring, it just seemed in his nature.

"Nanako-chan?"

"Huh?" She blinked and saw the boy was looking her dead in the eyes sending a weird sparking feeling through her body.

"You seemed a little lost just then," he said, his smile causing that weird spark to appear again, she didn't like it.

"Well, it seems I have to be going now, can't keep Kenji waiting, or he'll get grouchy, it was umm, fun, yes, fun!" she mumbled, already starting up the steps, trying to hide her red face.

"Nanako-chan!"

Stopping, she turned and saw the boy still sat on his chair, the box on his lap,

"We should talk again sometime, it would be cool!"

Yup, she needed to get out of here before she said something completely stupid, it most likely being very girly and shoujo manga like.

* * *

><p>"What took you so long?" She was greeted by Kenji's scowl as she headed back through the door, but she ignored him mostly and attempted to hide her silly blush.<p>

"We had a chat, sorry," she apologised, hiding her face a little.

"You fallen in love with him yet?" the snide comment came and straight away she spluttered ready to protest.

"**NO! NO! NO! NANAKO EUGUCHI ONLY LOVES MANGA! ANIME! VIDEO GAMES!**" she squealed, shaking about her arms in denial over what the man was suggesting, her face going even redder than before, this causing the old man to smirk.

"Urgh, teenage girls these days, all you need to do is smile, and give them a good comment or two and bam they think you're the bee's knees," the man declared and Nanako frowned. That wasn't true! If she was going to ever fall in love then it would be with someone with either similar interests or like her favourite characters. But she didn't see any crazy, glutton, super detective or ninjas around wanting to be her boyfriend.

Then again, what was with all this talk about boyfriends! She wasn't going to have one! She was going to be an independent woman!

"I'm not in love ok, don't be gross Kenji!" she grumbled, glaring at him and the man just smirked, snorting through his nose as if he was saying something funny to himself in his head.

"Suit yourself, anyways, time to practice Nanako, and then I have a surprise for you," the man announced getting up, the annoying weird broom she was too accustomed to see in his fingers, but the word _surprise_ was catching her attention in two different ways. Surprises weren't always exciting and nice when it came to Kenji. The whole performance tonight had started off as one of Kenji's 'surprises'.

"Wait and see, for now, practice!"

* * *

><p>He had been hanging around the shrine all day, watching out for Namimori students who he considered owed the school money, and in his head, there were a lot of them. It was early hours really, and Hibari didn't see anyone yet worthy of smuggling their money, so instead he laid back, almost tempted to have an afternoon nap; he really did love those.<p>

"Why don't you sit with me?" That voice was quiet and distant, but he knew it, seeing as it was one of the annoying trio that were basically the interesting baby's followers, the baseball one.

Sitting up a little, he looked for the location of the voice and wondered if the said baseball freak and whoever he was with had something he could deem 'collectable' for the school, in other words what he could steal. Only did he find his jaw slack a little when he saw the baseball boy had his hand on a certain wrist that belonged to possibly the only green haired person in Namimori.

_**What was she doing here?**_ Then again, she did work here, _but what was she doing with him?_

Wait a second, why did he care? He didn't, duh. He was still watching though, his eyes in slits, but a smirk captured his face as the girl shook her hand from the other boy's grasp, however he wasn't pleased when she sat by him.

For some reason he found himself watching all the way through the pairs boring conversation, as if he was trying to make sure the boy didn't do anything inappropriate. Then again, he shook his head of these thoughts, and told himself once again he didn't actually care.

The boy opened a box, and before he could comprehend what was happening, the boy was pressing a piece of sushi to the girl's lips, and to his surprise –and annoyance- the girl's cheeks had notably started to glow, and instead of doing what most sane person would have done –this being in Hibari's books slapping the boy round the face- she literally ate from his hand.

He growled, feeling his fist tighten, and he almost felt the urge to go out there and grab the girl and take her home. However this urge was only because he thought her mother would probably think that what she was doing with a boy out in public was indecent, **that was the only reason**.

The girl actually looked like she was in bliss then, which was completely stupid and foolish…it was just food.

And before his eyes again, the same scene was happening and the girl was taking the food from his fingers as if it was natural, like some little dog.

God, he didn't want to watch this any longer, it was disgusting. Later, he would definitely rob—claim all his earnings for Namimori, oh and the girl would be punished, he would make sure of it.

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><p>Looking in the mirror was a girl with long dark chocolate hair. Her face covered in light make up, her eyes made to look bigger with mascara, her lips a pale pearly pink, not to mention her cheeks. She was dressed in a long white dress, and over the top, around her waist, was a long rouge skirt, it held in place with a ribbon of the same colour. Wrapped around her neck was a small thread-like ribbon, tied in a little bow.<p>

However the image so perfect diminished in a matter of seconds as the shrine maiden in the mirror was scratching her head furiously thanks to the wig, and complaining that the make-up felt icky on her face.

"My face feels heavy, my body feels heavy, my head feels hot!" Nanako complained and whinged, the heat from the wig causing her head to itch like crazy.

"Nanako! Stop scratching now, you wouldn't have had to wear the wig if your hair wasn't flipping snot coloured!" Kenji barked and Nanako was quick to retort back,

"Emerald Green! Kenji, my hair is emerald green! Now let me take this thing off!" Trying to wretch the wig free from her head, her eyes were met dangerously close with the end of Kenji's broom.

"Move the wig, and I will never teach you how to fight," came the threat and Nanako hadn't really expected that. Instead she thought it would be more along the lines of 'move the wig and I'll poke your eye out'. Bringing her hands down reluctantly, she stared at herself again. This girl in the mirror was so alien, most definitely not her, she was almost tempted to take a picture just so she could compare it in future.

Her hands travelled down the fabric of the shrine maiden outfit that Kenji had given to her. Where did he get this from? Then again…was this…the kimono Yamamoto had bought? Was she supposed to be wearing this?

She had thought when Kenji said putting it on display that it would be hanging up for all to see not on a person, she had a feeling Yamamoto probably thought the same.

It really was beautiful though, the fabric was very soft…however, terribly heavy, and she really _really _wanted to slouch.

Her hands travelled back up and she cringed. Patting her chest, she grimaced noticing that this bit was rather too big on her; in fact Kenji had to pull it back as far as possible. For some reason having lack of boobs hadn't really bothered her till now.

Dropping her hands to her side, she turned and glanced over at the clock, 6:25…_5 minutes_. She bent over to pick the weird broom or maiden's pole up and headed for the door but not before she felt a tap to her shoulder.

"Remember, no slouching, be graceful, elegant, princess like," Kenji informed her and she just pulled a face, she was neither elegant or princess like, and all she wanted to do right now was slouch, "And stop pulling that face, you're supposed to be serene…one last thing."

The man rummaged his pockets and then pulled out something that was now clasped in his palm.

"What is it?" she asked, like always she was curious.

The man removed his fingers and sat in his palm was a hair clip with tassel type fabric that reminded her of the end of the shrine maiden pole.

"Keep still," the man uttered as he moved part of the fringe of the wig out of her face and clipped it, "And done, now people can see your face."

"I would rather them not see my face," she grumbled under her breath but this time the man didn't reprimand her, instead he smiled.

"You look fitting, very fitting, now, get out there."

If that was a compliment she would take it.

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><p>AN: Urrrrrrrgh, no no no no no no no! Icky! Icky! Lack of plot moving on, it burns. Terrible grammar, wording, ew ew ew ew ewwwwwww! This chapter I tried to adapt the start of a new relationship from Nanako, however I haven't fully decided what type of relationship it will be, it could be a one-sided one on Nanako's behalf.

Oh and the shrine maiden role will probably be linked to Nanako from now on.

Sorry if this was poor, I'm just trying to get through the boring parts at the moment as quickly as possible to then throw the action at you.

Not only was this chapter long, but boring as hell. Off to down myself in a tank of acid.

Urgh, so negative…reviews would be nice, god I bitch and then I ask for reviews, I'm so silly. OH! And also thank you everyone who reviewed last chapter and faved and alerted, when I get an email about them it makes me go 8O YESSSS! *does over the top jump in the air*!


	12. Attempting to fight!

_Thank you guys for reviews, favs, and alerts as always they make me one happy camper :D...wtf did i just type?_

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><p><em><span>Chapter 12: Attempting to fight<span>_

It had been a rather long and hard summer for Tsuna, the only times he had managed to get a break was when Reborn let him and his friends go to the beach, however that didn't exactly end up as a relaxing trip thanks to the swimming fight with the evil lifeguards. Least he had got to see Kyoko in a bikini, oh and Haru too.

Today wasn't much better really, his mama was busy visiting his aunt, so instead of spending his glorious free time doing whatever he wanted, he had to babysit the kids, and of course Reborn wanted to go to the summer festival, which had then gotten I-Pin and Lambo overexcited, both of them tugging violently on his arms in the directions they wanted to go.

He had then of course found Yamamoto and Gokudera, but to his surprise they were selling chocolate covered bananas due to the many things they had both destroyed in Namimori. However once the banana stand became popular, out came a rather grumpy looking Hibari, giving each of them a gruelling stare, though for some reason it seemed mainly focused on Yamamoto. Then out of nowhere, he started demanding that they hand over their hard earned cash.

He hadn't refused, seeing as he was confused and scared stiff, but the others had, or they lied, promising tales of handing the money over later. Tsuna actually couldn't remember what they had said, but whatever it was had got rid of Hibari.

Yamamoto and Gokudera had then taken a much needed break, and left Tsuna to look after the calmer shift. He didn't mind this one bit, it was relaxing, no yelling kids, no pressuring Reborn, just his own quiet little stall that was nearly coming to its end.

Leaning back comfortably on his chair behind the stall, he watched as people went by, he had seen Kyoko and Haru earlier too; both of them looking like models as they wore their yutakas beautifully.

He heard a clatter behind him and quickly his head turned in fright. His mouth fell open as he noticed a boy around his age, hidden behind a baseball cap, grabbing their earnings and making a run for it.

Instead of shouting thief, he decided to run after the other, yelling for him to come back as he ran through the crowds of people.

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><p>It was time, half 6, and as she peeked her head out of the door she saw a swarm of people waiting around bored. There were people of all ages, kids, adults, teenagers. She even recognised some from school and she prayed to god that her wig would stay on, just in case she messed up. If it stayed on, it meant no one knew who she was, hopefully.<p>

Nanako felt ever hair on her body prick up when she stood centre of the lit up spot in the middle of the shrine, the cheap floor lights creating a ring around her. A crowd of people surrounded her, and she felt all their eyes on her, this causing bile to rise in her throat_. Come on, you can do this, if you don't Kenji will never teach you how to fight ever again_, her mind told her as if it was motivation though for some reason it just made her feel more nervous.

She directed her attention to her feet, and waited to begin. The best approach was to solely concentrate on her actions, however it seriously was hard when you could feel eyes boring into you, watching your every move. Nanako just prayed right now that everything would go swimmingly and she wouldn't fall flat on her face or possibly throw up Yamamoto's glorious share of

Sushi from earlier, or that weird pastry thing –which was pretty good- Kenji had given her to eat before putting on all her make up

Suddenly a loud drum sounded, which caused her to flinch, and she hoped no one had noticed her little body mishap.

The drums were hit again, and out came other music, creating a beat for her. Exhaling and inwardly screaming one last time, she lifted up the shrine maiden's pole and slowly let it glide through the air, landing as gracefully as she could muster to the sound of the drum beat. Moving along in the routine, she lifted the pole above her head, grasping it with two hands and then rolled forward, keeping her back as straight as possible as she arched and came up again. She twirled the pole round her head as if casting the cherry blossom petals to her, and in a way she could almost feel herself getting into it. The only reason for this was that she felt a lot like a magician as the petals danced round her head, and even though guns and modern machinery was epic, you couldn't beat good old fantasy.

A smile took her face captive, and the terrible fear of the eyes watching her disappeared as she started to play in her own little world with the blossom petals, man she was too use to playing childish games with her friend back in Shimon. She was 14, nearly 15 now, she shouldn't be doing this. But alas, she couldn't help admit that playing this silly little role-play was calming her down and making her routine run smoothly.

"HIEEEEEEEEE!" Suddenly she froze, the music hadn't, and the crowd hadn't looked for the source of the scream, instead they watched her, clearly bemused by her sudden halt.

"HIEEE!" That scream belonged to one person and one person only, her cousin. _**What was going on? Was Tunafish ok?**_ Then again, how would she know, stood here in this silly costume waving about this silly stick? Her fingers clenched down on the pole and suddenly she ran to the source of the scream.

She tried to push through the crowd that surrounded the steps, the pole still firmly in her grasp.

"Excuse me, please, move, please," she urged as she heard the squeal again. She tried to ignore the questioning voices as she finally managed to push her way through to get to the steps. Man this skirt was going to be annoying getting down. Biting onto the thick pole of the shrine maiden sceptre, she lifted the ends of her skirt and ran down the stairs, trying her hard not to cry out thanks to the wood beginning to hurt her teeth. Nearly tripping on the way down, she yanked the stick from her mouth and placed it in front of her just so she wouldn't fall. Putting all her body weight pressing down into the pole, she slowly walked herself down the last remaining steps until her back was once again straight. Reaching the bottom of the steps, she ran forward, her annoying wooden sandals making clanking noises as she ran through the crowd of remaining people. She would have to apologise to Kenji for this later, but for now she sensed her cousin was in danger and she couldn't just do nothing about it.

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><p>Shrine maiden dance, it was what created the biggest crowd of them all at this festival apart from the fireworks, and it really made Hibari want to bite them all to death as he laid on the shrine roof. He had picked a silly place for a nap, because below it had started to get louder as the 'maiden' had emerged, a couple of gasps and comments leaking from the audience.<p>

"Pretty, she doesn't look much younger than us, how come I've never seen her before," a whiny comment came from a boy that stood in a group not far off from the shrine building itself and Hibari just rolled his eyes as he listened to their other comments about whoever the female was down there dancing and how she was cute, or pretty, or how they wouldn't mind going out with her.

"A bit flat chested though," he heard another say and that's when he seized up.

"Yeah, I thought that too," another one added, and Hibari felt a horrid thought run through his mind. Whoever had hired the shrine maiden had to be the old man he had fought that time. He was the stupid girl's boss, and he had a feeling the man was probably tight when giving out money, he just seemed like one of those types. So where could he find a young female on such short notice and so cheap?

He sat up straight away, and crawled over towards the edge of the roof, making sure that others didn't notice him but by now they were all too busy staring at the girl below who seemed to be dancing to the beat of the drums. When the girl came into his vision, he could only see her back. Running down her back was dark brunette hair, so it couldn't obviously be the girl, he knew her hair was bright green, yet there was something familiar about the figure. All he needed for now was the girl to turn around. His eyes narrowed onto her movements, waiting impatiently for her to turn around but at the same, a little memorised by her movements. They were graceful but at the same time a little playful, so this couldn't be the girl he saw at home who came in with her back arched, and walked around like a prehistoric caveman. But still, he had an aching feeling that it could be her, and if so he didn't know why those pathetic hormonal boys' comments got to him.

Suddenly, the girl froze, all her joints seizing up, was this part of the act? The crowd looked as confused as he felt. Another mere 10 seconds passed and without warning the girl darted forward, pushing her way through the crowd like her life depended on it.

_Was it due to stage fright?_ She had been fine just a second ago, so what was going on? He observed as she headed for the steps and stopped her next moves rather unusual. She had placed the pole probably in her teeth as now he see two sides of the pole sticking out from either sides of the back of her head, not just that she was lifting up her dress and running clumsily down the stairs.

That reminded him more of the girl, and so he leapt off the roof ignoring the bewildered stares of his entrance. The people surrounding the steps parted at the sight of him and in a way, the control he had over people made him pleased but right now he was after the girl.

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><p>Yamamoto had decided to take a break and explore what the shrine had to offer. From what he could tell Gokudera had left him for a cigarette break, and the girls had taken the kids off somewhere, which left him on his own seeing as Tsuna was tending to the stand. Maybe Nanako was here; she had said something about working here with Kenji, so maybe she was about. However then again, locating her could be difficult, it's not like he had asked for her number or anything, I mean they had only just met. So maybe, he would have to pass on the hanging out with Nanako idea. After her jittery exit this afternoon also, he didn't know if she really wanted to hang out with him anymore. Part of him wondered if he done anything wrong, he was just like he was normally, no different, maybe she didn't like that, <em>strange<em>.

So what else did he have to do now? Tapping his fingers on his jeans, he stopped to think and then something in his brain seemed to click. Kenji had said he was going to display his mother's outfit tonight; maybe he could go see that, then again, the idea didn't seem to sit comfortably on him. His shoulders shrugged a little, but he tried to pick up his spirits by buying something tasty from one of the stands. Handing over the change and he gave the girl behind the counter a dazzling smile, ignoring her obvious blush. He took a bite into his snack and grinned, _man good food always made him feel better._

"Did you make this? It's really good," he complimented the girl behind the stand again and her face flared up more, her hands rubbing nervously together, her lips trying to utter out a thanks.

"**God damn shoes, why are you so darn uncomfortable!"** A loud complaint sounded behind him along with the scurrying clack of wooden sandals. _Was that Nanako?_

He turned his head and his mouth fell open a little, running past him was a girl wearing what looked like his mother's outfit.

But who was it? A thief? _**Kenji hadn't said anything about someone wearing it?**_ And because the girl was running, did that mean she was stealing the outfit? Then again why did the girl sound like Nanako? She certainly didn't look like her; I mean the girl was a brunette for a start. Suddenly at the speed of light, Hibari flashed by him, looking like he was on the girl's tail.

Who was she? Whoever she was, he wanted to know why she was running around in his precious mother's shrine maiden kimono.

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><p>"Look, I think there's been a mistake, I didn't mean to upset you, HIIEEEE PUT THE KNIFE AWAY!" Nanako was closer and she almost wanted to scream out in shock when she heard her poor cousin cry out. The voice who was threatening him sounded familiar, though she hadn't heard it for a very long time. Finally reaching the location of her cousin Tunafish, she gasped to see one of the guy's she beat hard with a broom only a month ago grabbing her cousin's collar and holding a knife dangerously close to his cute face. Knowing she had to do something, she quickly took off one of her sandals and lobbed it at the older boy's face.<p>

Thankfully for her it hit him, even if it was very sloppy.

"Ow! Who the fuck did that?" the boy snarled just like the time she had beat him into shameful tears. Taking the other shoe off her foot, she stood forward, the shrine maiden pole in one hand and her other sandal in the other as if she was being threatening.

The group of goons just laughed their heads off as she approached them, her best attempt of a dangerous glare covering her face.

"Let him go!" she ordered the boy but the boy didn't cease, instead he put the knife closer to her cousin's adorable face.

"Or what bitch? This your girlfriend Tsuna? Cheating on those other two loser?" the boy said letting out a malicious laugh and her cousin just panicked, eying Nanako widely, mouthing words that look a lot like 'get out of here', but she wasn't going anywhere, _she would save him._

"Just let him go!" she repeated, her voice sterner, and then her mouth curved up into a shaky grimace, as she watched the other goons with their own sharp weapons getting closer, but she had to keep brave, "It seems like you don't remember me, I'm surprised."

The one clasping Tsuna let his wrist slack a little on the boy and looked at her closer, as if trying his hardest to recognise her.

"Last time I saw you, you were running away whimpering and crying."

The boy's eyes narrowed sharply, and a smirk rose on Nanako's face, he really was dumb, I mean she didn't look that different in this attire…ok maybe she did.

The boy threw Tsuna harshly to another who copied what the other had done, holding that knife dangerously close to his face, causing Nanako to growl at him.

The male drew in closer and part of her started to panic, _**why was he coming so damn close?**_ Before he could get any closer, she tucked the sandal into the ribbon and turned the pole around, facing the blunt end at the boy's stomach so he couldn't get any closer.

His small beady eyes seemed to flash in recognition then. The pole was like the broomstick she had beaten him with before, he would remember now. That small brain of his would catch the similarity of the two; she knew it.

"If you don't want a repeat of last time, you'll let him go," she growled at the taller boy, thinking that now he would just give up and back off, taking his thugs with him. Though, being too in the moment, she was too naïve to detect the presence of the other behind her, who seized both of her arms, triggering her to jump in alarm, the pole falling from her fingers and clattering to the floor loudly.

"You look different," the main goon hissed looming over her, his stench for a breath making her want to choke, man he was disgusting.

He leant close, pausing by her ear and she winced as his hot breath filled its cavity making her want to shudder, "You ruined my pride even more, I was planning to cut up Tsuna's face other there, but here you are, how lucky am I?"

He took the knife from the other and held it to her face. Nanako felt tears form in her eyes as she struggled in the grasp of the other jackass behind, leaning back into him as close as possibly to avoid the knife.

"She's pretty cute though, don't you think? Why are you going to cut her face? There's plenty of other things you could do to it," a voice behind her declared and the possible slicing of her face adjourned, as the boy who she had beaten leant back to take another look at her. She could see he was angry, but with encouragement from others in the group, his attitude had turned lecherous.

She didn't like where this was going one bit. Trying to think back to Kenji's training, she strained her body to lean back on the boy grasping her, lifting up her legs and kicked the other roughly in the balls, then she sent another clumsy kick to his feet, the first one had dealt enough pain for him to drop the knife though, it joining her shrine maiden pole on the floor.

She then attempted to jump, which caught the one holding her off guard, his body tumbling to the ground taking her down with him. Her fall cushioned by the guy behind, she managed to free her arms, tugging them out as hastily as she could. Next, she made a dash to pick up both the knife and the shrine maiden pole, both nestled in her hands.

However she was still perched on the ground when the thug had recovered, his foot placing harshly on the back of her head causing her to tumble face first to the ground. Her chin had taken most of the blow and she let out a scream as the pain ruptured there.

"Hey, leave her be," she heard her cousin whimper, she had a feeling that he still didn't know who she was, man the disguise must have been impressive, but now wasn't the time to think that!

The foot grounded into her head some more, smashing it to the ground, making her cry out. She tried to protect her teeth by attempting to turn her face to the side so it was only her cheek that grounded into the floor, only this was a stupid idea as his foot kicked dangerously close to her temple.

"Fuck, ow, ow, ow, s-stop it," she uttered through pained pants, it had been a while since she had taken a beating this bad, it made her wonder how her friend was as she felt the pain increase in her cheek as if all the teeth were going to smash out of her mouth.

"What a delicious looking crowd I've found, just happens to be the ones who stole the money too, I'll just have to bite you to death and then take the money," she heard a voice and the foot ceased. As the foot lifted off, she gently got herself up, her head feeling heavy, pounding. She just felt like flopping back and she could taste blood in her mouth, luckily for her, her teeth had remained unharmed.

Looking through half-lidded eyes, she saw the figure of a male standing over a body of one of the thugs. Black hair, platinum eyes…that same cruel smirk. Those eyes hit her and her eyes widened as she realised who it was.

"K-Kyoua?" she said through a cough, a little blood falling from her lips and onto her battered hands as she held them by her mouth.

Instead of smirking cruelly or making a snide comment, the eyes of the boy seemed to flash and widen like hers in shock.

"It's just another middle school kid guys," the main thug bellowed and whilst he was distracted, Nanako weakly stretched out to grab the pole and the knife, trying to ignore how badly her head pounded. She could still probably fight when the time came to it…_probably._

Another group of guys, all carrying weapons, jumped out of the bushes, all of them giving threatening smiles to the three middle school students.

Nanako listened as her cousin squealed, and she just grimaced, that's it she needed to fight.

Biting her lips –even though that hurt- to the numb the growing pain of other parts in her face, she quickly got up, trying to ignore the fact that there were cuts and grazes on her arms too, damn what a mess.

She glanced quickly down at both of the weapons in her hands, a knife and the shrine maiden pole. She hadn't been taught to use weapons yet really, however she remembered Kenji's moves when he was teaching her dodging, then he had used a metal pole, so would she have more experience with the pole. I mean with the knife she could accidently kill someone, as much as she wanted to kill these guys, she couldn't suffer going to prison yet.

So what would she do with the knife, she couldn't just leave it here on the floor or one of the bad guys might get it. Her eyes travelled over to Kyouya who was still looking at her, he was probably the best option. He seemed to hide those tonfas fine all the time so he could probably store the knife away too.

Dodging the others as they ran at her, she got to Kyouya's side, and presented the knife to him. She swore she had never seen him like this before. Couldn't he see who it was, then again, it was probably difficult now she had a blood stained and bruised cheek, just peachy.

"Take it, store it away in that never ending jacket of yours," she said, attempting to hand the knife to him again. The boy took it hesitantly and then slipped it in his jacket. Once she knew it was out of sight, she swiped her hand against her cheek, the blood smearing across the side of her made up face probably making her look more like the joker than anything.

"Hey! What's going on here?"

"Tenth?"

Two yells came from behind them and Nanako could have almost smiled at them if her teeth weren't covered in blood. Spitting out any excess blood onto the floor, which was gross, she sent her tongue over her teeth to clean them.

"This is pathetic, they still think they can beat us," the main goon laughed and Nanako felt like laughing for their sakes. These guys had no deal who they were fucking with. Ok, she wasn't the strongest of people, and nor was her cousin, but she had seen these guys strength. Her stepbrother over there was a superhuman and these two, well these two were borderline ones as well.

Everyone moved into attack and Nanako prepared herself, holding the pole in a fighting stance, if this didn't work she would go for kicking them all in the balls.

"Isn't this a surprise," she heard a squeak sound in her ear as her shoulder weighed down a little and she grinned.

"Reborn."

The baby on her shoulder smirked as she acknowledged him and then brought out his little green gun, "Tsuna, go help them."

The shot rang out and suddenly her cousin was up and about, his face once again feral, "REBORN! TO FIGHT AND GET THE MONEY BACK AS IF I WERE TO DIE!"

She forgot these guys were thieves too. Some lunged for her and she swung the pole at them, knocking them off their feet, another guy she used the cotton end to temporarily blind him before sending one of her feet to trip him up. Once he was down, she jabbed him hard in the stomach with the blunt end before moving onto the next guy. She couldn't really concentrate on what the others were doing; all she heard from their side was a lot of noise, from explosions to yells. She wanted to look, but she couldn't seeing as she was too preoccupied with the guys attempting to hurt her more than she actually was, and she fancied still looking human.

Continuing with what she was doing, she tried to jab one in the stomach and then another, winding them partially, what she didn't expect was for one to smack the end of the pole with his baseball bat, the pole trembling in her fingers until she dropped it once again.

Reaching down to pick it up, she knew it was too late when the man lifted the baseball bat ready to smack her. In a last minute attempt to protect her face she positioned her fingers out to grab and stop the bat, even though it would probably break her hands.

The man flashed past her vision though when he was smacked straight in the jaw sending him flying in the other direction.

Looking for her saviour she was utterly surprised when she saw her nasty as hell step brother glaring at her. He had just saved her…_but why?_

"Kyou—

"What are you doing here?" he spat angrily, his tonfa smacking another goon shockingly fast.

"Trying to save my cousin," she retorted, jabbing someone in stomach temporarily winding them as she moved to punch them square in the jaw.

The boy just tutted at her loudly, shaking his head in disagreement, "From what I can see, you were doing the opposite herbivore!"

"Now isn't a great time Kyouya!" she yelled at him, barely dodging a baseball bat that swung past her face.

The fight continued on, and Nanako tried to fight, but most of the time she felt herself staggering due to the growing pain on her cheek, not to mention the dizziness was taking effect too.

Even though she was mainly focusing on fighting and protecting herself, she found herself slightly distracted by the fact she was receiving help from a certain individual. Every time she would stagger and nearly got her face smashed in by a bat or wooden plank, Kyouya smacked their face in with a silver pole of doom…but why would he even bother…

The goons were decreasing in numbers, but with this, Nanako felt her energy decrease too and her legs shook.

Falling to the floor, she winced as she felt her chin once again collide to the floor, there would definitely be a graze there, what was her mum going to say when she got home?

She attempted to get back up, her arms pushing wobbly against the floor, but down again she fell.

**In this predicament she was completely useless! This was pathetic!**

Whilst grumbling and attempting again, she sensed that someone was behind her. Ready to kick the goon she thought it would be, she heard a different voice.

"Ow, careful," the voice said and she almost cried with joy when she heard the voice of Yamamoto. She came face to face with his feet, and he slowly bent down, lifting her shoulders gently. Her body was pressed against his, and even though she didn't want to admit it, she felt flushed.

"Who are you? Why are you wearing my mother's costume?" the questions fired at once and she saw the serious look in the boy's eyes.

"I'm sorry Yamamoto," she uttered, noticing that the costume had got well and truly scuffed, and it needed a really good clean.

"N-Nanako?" the boy seemed surprised and the girl nodded sadly.

"I didn't know Kenji was going to use the costume for the shrine maiden dance," she whispered apologetically into his shirt and the boy just frowned.

"I guess…" he seemed to swallow a big lump in his throat before he continued, "its ok, I mean as long you are all right… I guess."

The boy's answer was rather lacklustre but she could see he was upset and she almost wanted to go yell at Kenji for making her wear the thing without the boy's permission, however it was her fault it had got so scuffed up.

Lifting her head up from the boy's chest, she peeked over his shoulder to see the last of the goons fall to the floor groaning.

Tunafish was also out of his feral state, looking around anxiously for any signs of the thugs getting up and attacking him again. The next thing he did was run in her direction.

"Miss, are you ok?" her cousin asked her worriedly and she almost wanted to laugh as she turned round to face him, her body still using poor Yamamoto for support, though the boy didn't seem to mind.

"Miss?" she reached out and stroked his face, before patting it feebly, "Tunafish, you're a fool."

"Nanako-chan—

"Hand over the herbivore, Yamamoto Takeshi," all of them turned at once and due to the lack of support Nanako fell straight onto Yamamoto's back, her cheek pressing up against it.

"Huh? What? Who do you mean?" Yamamoto asked clueless, and Nanako was rather bemused as well. Without warning, her demon step brother at the flash of light weaved in between them and she felt the air disappear from under her.

Squeaking and waving her arms about, she still couldn't figure out what was going on until she heard an angry whisper in her ear, "Stop moving herbivore, right now, or I will bite you to death."

Her eyes flickered up and she saw her stepbrother scowling down at her, but what she couldn't comprehend was the fact he was holding her, carrying her in fact.

"I'll be taking that money for the disciplinary committee soon," Kyouya declared and she was still too busy flabbergasted that Hibari was holding her almost tenderly, "And Yamamoto Takeshi, I will make sure your mother's costume will be cleaned and perfect before you see it next."

* * *

><p>When they had reached home, the pair were greeted by a silent house and a note telling them that the two adults had gone out for the night and wouldn't be back till very late. In a way this was good seeing as Nanako could clean herself up a bit before her mother arrived, and perhaps ring Kenji to apologise and explain why she ran out earlier. However, in a way, the lack of any adults in the house made her quiver a bit as she still remained silent in Kyouya's arms. On the way home, he hadn't said a word to her, just held her securely and comfortably and in a way; it felt more like Kenji said a brother should treat his sister…like a princess. Though she wouldn't be fooled, she knew something bad would be happening in a second, she could feel it.<p>

Kyouya kicked her bedroom door open, and she waited for him to toss her to the bed and beat her up, but instead he continued to hold her until he reached the side of the bed, when he was there instead of just plonking her down, he bent over, laying her down gently onto the covers.

_Ok_…so now she was confused…he was being incredibly kind to her…maybe this was all his way of catching her off guard before he did something horrible. There was an unbearable silence and Nanako squirmed as the boy just stood in silence, his eyes pinning her to the mattress.

"K-Kyou—

"**Don't speak."**

Her lips zipped shut over the sound of his command. Normally she would have argued back, but the command sounded like the boy was incredibly mad with her, his voice sounding a lot like an adult, and even though she didn't like to it admit it, adults terrified her when she got scolded.

The boy turned and left the room, leaving Nanako to lay in a dumbed silence, her body remaining in the same position. She heard his return and she lifted her head up a little to see him carrying a tray.

He placed the tray on the bed and she shuffled backwards a little, trying to sit up. On the tray, she noticed bandages, plasters, a clean flannel, a bowl full of clean water, a towel and antiseptic cream. Was…_this really for her?_ She took a sneaky peak at the boy to see if there were any wounds on him, and she nearly felt jealous when she noticed there was not a mark on his perfect ivory face.

So, by the looks of it, he was going to tend to her wounds.

His cold fingers grabbed hold of her chin, and he leaned closer as he dabbed the flannel into the water and cleaned it, the sensation causing her to hiss thanks to the pressure from the injuries she got to her face.

"You know, I'm surprised that none of my teeth have fallen out," she chuckled meagrely in the insufferable silence, but still the boy didn't answer, he just concentrated solely on her face, now dabbing it lightly with the towel. His kindness was just confusing her now.

"Why are you being so nice?" Her question had seemed to the get the boy's attention now and he looked her dead in the eye, his eyebrows arching slightly.

"What do you mean herbivore?" his voice was quieter now, but said in a tone that seemed to be disbelieving.

She leaned forward a little and repeated herself, "You're being nice to me, like earlier as well, you saved me multiple times were I could have got really badly hurt, why?"

His eyes closed and his lips drew into a thin line as if considering his options, from the tightness of his lips, she had a feeling he didn't like the reason he helped her.

"Your mother would have been mad if you had been seriously injured," the boy replied back shortly after, and Nanako agreed with that, she didn't want to stress out her mother. She just couldn't help think there was more to his answer.

"Is that all?" She didn't really know why she asked that but the boy seemed to stare at her funny as if she had clicked onto something, so she tried again, "Is that the only reason you helped me?"

"What if it was herbivore? Would you be mad?" the boy asked and she shook her head, attempting to appear disgusted as she perceived the smirk on the boy's face.

"Don't flatter yourself."

They both fell into silence again as he cleaned the cuts with an antiseptic cream, which she thought was more like acid, but she kept up a brave façade, this being to chew the crap out of her bottom lip to hold in the fact she wanted to swear.

Once the boy had finished, he stuck a plaster over where she suspected there was a cut on her cheek, then he took her hands in his. For some reason at that very moment, Nanako felt something flare in her and she was more than tempted to pull her hands back, but the boy noticed and grabbed her wrists firmly.

Letting go of one of the hands, he brought over the bandages. The cream went back on, his fingers massaging small circles into her palms, which she found rather nice; though she kind of wished it hadn't.

It was not long after that he her hands were bandaged up in a rather professional fashion and she almost wondered if the boy had done it before.

His back turned to her and she heard the sounds of different items hit the tray as he started to put them away.

Why had he done this for her? It was still confusing her entirely, but even so, she knew she needed to thank him.

Her hand outstretched and tapped him on the shoulder, the boy's body noticeably flinching, which caused her to mimic his action also. What was with that reaction?

The boy turned, giving her a suspicious look, as if she was going to say something horrible, least that's what she thought he believed.

"T-Thank you," she muttered under her breath, feeling a little ridiculous. Never had she thought she would be thanking him for anything, seeing as he was horrid to her most of the time, but here she was doing so.

The boy raised his eyebrows…_had no one ever said thank you to him before?_ Then again that seemed rather plausible.

"Thank you Kyouya," she said with a faint smile, nonetheless the male still looked puzzled.

She shuffled over towards him, the bed sheets creasing beneath her. Once she was close enough, she didn't know what possessed her to do it, but she wrapped her arms loosely around the boy in an awkward hug.

"Thank you, I guess," she patted him lightly on the back, before slowly pulling away. Seconds later though, she found herself back in the hug, this time the one with the arms around her was the boy; his head noticeably leaning on her shoulder, a bit like the time he had fainted on her. However this time, the boy must have been fully aware.

"Kyouya?" the boy didn't reply, instead the hands seemed to wrap around her back in a way that made her whole body stiffen like a solider. _**J-Just what was he doing?**_

His hands seemed to move at an incredibly slow pace up her back and she didn't know why but the sensation was causing her stomach to feel like it was twisting, her shoulders growing ridged.

The hands then dove into the slightly matted brunette wig.

"What are you doing?" she managed to finally get out and the head leaning on her right shoulder lifted and pulled back so they were face to face. In a way he looked totally different. His expression wasn't mean, or cold like normal. Instead it almost appeared playful, well if you could call that smirk of his playful, and his eyes seemed to reflect a different light that made her feel like a caught animal facing off her prey. He brought forward a strand of hair from the brunette wig and twirled it around his finger, all she could do was stare at the finger and then stare back at him completely dumbstruck.

"Urm…" still she couldn't say anything, what with him staring at her like that, for some reason, it made her feel a weird sensation she was not used to. Shutting her eyes tightly to avoid Kyouya stare, she tried to think of other things. She wondered if Yamamoto wanted to be her friend anymore. I mean she had practically ruined his mother's costume. Would she have to apologise to his mother too? How much would it cost to repay them?_ Urgh_ now she was worried about that too! Opening her eyes again, she scowled when she noticed Kyouya was still giving her that look and not uttering a word.

"Would you like to say something Kyouya?" The boy's eyes flashed in recognition and the smirk disappeared. Along went the hands in her hair too, well they were out of the wig.

He got up from the bed, and headed for the door, but before leaving, he came back, and stared at her again for 30 seconds –she counted- before he bonked her lightly on the head with his silver stick thingie, in an almost teasing way.

"Herbivore, don't try and attempt hero next time, or I will bite you to death."

And with that he had left her in the room, with a look that clearly read 'what the fuck just happened?' etched on her face, but then it dawned on her. Maybe she finally was getting a big brother figure…_**although was this what it was supposed to be like?**_

* * *

><p>AN: Some people asked for Nanako's fighting style, so I kind of gave it, she's still no wonderwoman so what she does is still very sloppy, people also asked for more adaption on her's and Hibari's relationship, so I attempted, I really did…and it burns. This chapter was left on such a stupid note.

I never have anything good to say about myself when writing an author's note, so hmmm, time to say something good, IT'S LONGER! I just found myself writing and writing, but the sad thing is I think it's all over the place. Hope you enjoyed this weird chapter, sorry Hibari didn't get to properly see her in her outfit…I just realised the shrine maiden dance didn't take much of a part in this, d'oh, however the pole is important so yeaaaaah.

Righto then, please review, and thanks for all who have reviewed and faved and alerted because that is just mighty fabulous.


	13. Threats and Bruises

"Well...I'm a picture of _grace_ and _elegance_ this morning."

Nanako snorted audibly. Her decision to take a long look in the mirror this morning was a disastrous idea. Especially after the events of last night. She hadn't really got a good look at the damage last night. Her chin was grazed, it shining a viscous, cherry colour. She was surprised she hadn't come off worse to be frank, her jaw had taken a lot of damage yesterday. What came across as a real surprise though was the gash that stood out obnoxiously on her cheek. The plaster that had been concealing the injury had began to peel and with every slight movement of her head, it flapped, exposing the lovely, inflamed gash that had taken her cheek hostage. _**Geez, she hope that didn't scar**_. She thanked god her lip hadn't busted, which came across as a shock. She had remembered spitting a lot of blood up that last night, which led her to the next place of inspection. Pulling a cheesy grin -despite the fact it ached to do so-, she noted that all her teeth were still present in her mouth. _**Thank goodness**_. As soon as Kyouya had cleaned her up, she had pretty much passed out, which seemed odd seeing as her mind had been going at 110% when it came to over-thinking..._over-thinking everything_.

She would have said the first thing on her mind was Yamamoto's mother's kimono, but that was far from the truth. Instead, even though she was trying to forget it or make it seem rational, the behaviour of a certain someone resided in her head.

That playful smirk, the hug...the light in his eyes that seemed almost too foreign to Nanako; she didn't like it's effect on her. She growled, she was overthinking again. She had more important matters to attend too, and more important things to panic over, like that blasted kimono! Thinking back onto that, she scanned the room for where she had taken it off the night previous. It was nowhere to be found, and with that thought in mind she gulped loudly..._what? Who? When? __**Where the unholy fudgery had that darn dress gone!?**_

Clutching onto her head exasperated, she felt another thing that didn't belong to her.

Glancing back to the mirror briefly, she noticed the dark chocolate wig still attached to her head. It was no longer smooth in appearance, instead it stuck out in random tangents, which along with the bruising, the tender, red injuries and the wild look on her face, looked well..._freaking fantastic_. OH! And not forgetting to mention the mascara that had made her eyes pop last night. They now 'popped' in entirely different way as it clung to her cheeks and lower lids. In other words, she looked genuinely terrifying. What was her mother going to say when she saw her? **OH JESUS**, another thing to worry about. With a dramatic sigh, she threw herself face first onto her bed, and groaned loudly.

"What are you doing?" _**Fuck.**_

Body spasming in surprise, Nanako found herself on the floor, staring at the ceiling, a dull throbbing pain now taking over her lower back. She really couldn't catch a break.

"Herbivore?" Just what she needed, Kyouya, especially seeing as the accounts of last night still played in her mind. She stiffened in alarm at his next action, her back feeling more pinned to the floor than it had initially. Met with those grueling platinum eyes, he was practically looming over her, his back arched as he stood over her.

"G-Good morning," she chirped , cursing over the stutter present in her voice. She hoped Kyouya hadn't noticed, but for a few brief seconds, she swore that unrecognisable expression was back, and she didn't like it. The way it made her feel caused her to squirm.

The expression disappeared though as quickly as it came, perhaps he had noticed her discomfort?

The boy retreated and Nanako slowly made her way up, grumbling a little as her joints twinged. Her body hadn't forgotten the many falls it had been subdued to the night before evidently.

"Can I help you?" she asked rather tooquickly, her lips forming into a thin line. Had that come across as rude?

"Here."

She glanced down, and noticed a box of plasters firmly in his grasp, along with a thin surgical mask.

Obviously, she had been giving him a weird look, as seconds later they were practically shoved into her palm, his face even more huffy than usual.

"Take them herbivore, don't expect treatment like last night ever again though," he growled at her, and she flinched. Y'know, Kyouya was seemingly good at that recently, doing something surprisingly kind but then stripping it all away with sharp tones or general rudeness, _**this boy**_.

"Thanks," she replied, her tone more bitter than it should have been, but he had riled her up.

He was heading for the door again, and part of her was glad. She didn't have time for his attitude right now, her current worries about his manner and actions from the night before abolished. Maybe last night was just a one off, Kyouya didn't like her, simple as.

"Herbivore, Yamamoto Takeshi's outfit has been washed and returned."

Her face softened at his words, and almost lit up.

"Really?" she asked surprised, so that's where it had gone.

"Yes." With that blunt reply Kyouya had gone, the sliding door banging garishly, causing her to wince. Now she felt bad for two reasons. One for not returning the outfit herself, but two for starting to hate Kyouya again when the boy was being strangely nice to her. Maybe he didn't hate her after all...or perhaps just not as much as normal.

* * *

><p>This was probably the first and last time Yamamoto would ever see this sight. In fact, he stood dumbfounded at the door, his mouth snapping open and close abruptly. Why on earth was the head of the school's disciplinary stood at his door? At 7am in the morning no less. They weren't friends, in fact they had barely even spoken. But then again perhaps he was here about the fight last night. The fight...his mother's outfit…the thoughts began to leak into his head.<p>

Why had Nanako been wearing it? Then again, he had a feeling Kenji had put her up to that...but he was still angry about it. That was his mother's outfit...and like that, last night it had escaped his grasp again. But then again, he knew he was feeling a bit irrational, he couldn't have yanked the thing off Nanako's body, even though he was tempted to do so. The more he recalled the whole idea, the more he realised how savage and also rather perverse he was becoming for his mother's possession.

Thinking about Nanako had caused Yamamoto to grimace over his behaviour. Mistakes were made, the girl had apologised instantly, but he hadn't once thought last night about the girl's safety. The girl who had bravely fought to save one of his best friends without hesitance. In fact when he had the seen girl, her body battered, blood drooling down her chin, a vicious gash on her cheek, he hadn't cared. When he had watched the girl struggle to fight with all her might despite the state she was in , _he hadn't cared_. Even when she had fallen after being roughly manhandled..._**he hadn't cared**_. Any normal guy with a shred of decency would have ran to the girl's side instantly , which is what he had done. However, he hadn't ran to her side to help, that wasn't his motive at all...he had ran to check if the outfit was ok.

His stomach sank a little when he recalled the frightful gaze in the girl's eyes when he had approached her. The way she had feebly kicked him also, like a wild animal bucking out of fear. He had been selfish, _really selfish_.

He lurched out of his thoughts when something struck him violently in the stomach.

"Herbivore." He had almost forgotten Hibari was here. Rubbing his hand over his eyes, as if to see if he was dreaming, he gave Hibari a once over.

His tonfas were now positioned on his belt and in his outstretched hand was a brown paper bag. Whatever was in it smelt good, that was for sure, a fresh aroma, like a sweet smelling detergent. Was that wash powder?

'_**I will make sure your mother's costume will be cleaned and perfect before you see it next,' **_like a trigger, his mind filled with the boy's words from the night before and with them his body lurched on impulse towards the bag.

What he didn't expect though was for it to be pulled sharply away from him, his fingers brushing gently against the papery surface.

The steely feel of the tonfa was back, this time pressed firmly into his chest, as if to create a barrier between the two.

"You're quicker than I thought herbivore," Hibari muttered nonchalantly. So it was his mother's costume! His hands reached for the bag again, this time his friendly facade completely destroyed and in return desperation began to creep it's way onto his features.

"**Give me the bag Hibari**," he had tried to sound as firm as possible, but it wasn't like there was any way of scaring the prefect. The man was known to be completely fearless, ruthless, so there was no way someone like himself, nicest guy in school, could scare him into giving him his mother's costume back.

Just why wasn't he giving him the costume back in the first place? Of what use was his mother's shrine maiden kimono to Hibari Kyouya?

"On one condition," Yamamoto stilled at his words, was Hibari Kyouya going to blackmail for his own mother's costume...why would he-

"I'll give you the costume if you stay away from Nanako Euguchi."

The statement had sent Yamamoto into a stunned silence. _Nanako? _Nanako was the condition.

"Huh what?" Yamamoto was still left bemused, had he heard Hibari right?

"You heard me herbivore, if you want the costume back, then you stay away from her."

The look in his eyes confirmed to Yamamoto that Hibari was deadly serious. But still why?

Like they had done before, more memories from the night prior began to flood into his mind again. Nanako had been saved by Hibari, he had swept her up like a knight in shining armour, his grip on her tight, and despite the fact he was desperate for the costume then, he had observed the weird air between the two. Just what was that?

"Hibari, I barely know Nanako," he uttered, he was telling the truth to a certain extent. Yes, he was aware she was Tsuna's unusual cousin, what with her green hair and her kooky fashion sense, she was hard to miss. But still he hardly knew her, he practically knew everyone in their class in a sense, everyone was friendly with him...everyone except for her. Since the time she had started at Namimori, Yamamoto was only aware of her due to the distance she put between herself and the rest of the students, it was strange to say the least. And he wasn't stupid, despite what people thought of him, he was more than aware of her presence in the background. He had seen her on multiple occasions out of the corner of his eye, staring in his group of friend's direction, an uncomfortable, wanting expression planted all over her face. What did she want? She was constantly doing it. He had tried smiling in her direction on a few occasions, his friendly demeanour getting the better of him, but each time they were either brushed off or met awkwardly with a strange stare before the girl disappeared back into her own little world.

He knew nothing about her, that was until their brief encounter yesterday. He hadn't seen anyone this young approach Kenji, and he was aware that Kenji had grandchildren of the same age; his father had always explained that the old man would complain about their lack of respect or presence around the shrine. And he was also aware that the majority of people who knew of Kenji weren't his biggest fans either. The old man was sharp and most of his sentences ended with an insult, so why was the transfer student there, obviously well acquaintanced with the challenging shrine owner?

They had spoken more that day, and she turned out to be a lot more charming than Takeshi had imagined. Sort of shy, but jokey with a tomboyish sense of humor, and good principles too, so he couldn't resist teasing her a little bit by feeding her the sight of her red face was certainly different from the expressions he had seen from her previous, it sort of excited him. And at the time he had been genuinely interested in hanging out with her again. He had made that apparent to her, and even though the girl seemed to be trying to run from him, he had managed to capture her expression as he had talked about seeing her again. Her face was a picture, crimson cheeks and a blissful expression that really did the girl's face justice. Tsuna's cousin was cute and he had concluded that the distance the girl was putting between everyone was non-existent. Those forlorn, 'secretive' glances finally made sense to him, she was an extremely lonely girl. That's why it seemed a shame over what he was about to do next.

"Deal." With his exchange of words, the bag made its way into his hands, and he took a peek inside, relief washing over him at the sight of the costume. Hibari wasn't completely twisted.

"Thank you."

"If you break your deal herbivore, I will bite you to death," Hibari snarled more viscious than normal, the tonfas moving back to his belt, and with a swish of his jacket, Hibari had left Takeshi as dumbfounded as he had been at the start of their conversation..._if you could have called that a conversation._

That terms of the trade still bugged him though. Just what kind of hold did Hibari have over Nanako? This possessive display of behaviour only made Takeshi perceive Hibari as even more terrifying than people had portrayed him originally. Was Nanako his girlfriend or something? He just couldn't picture that. In a way if that was the truth, or even if that wasn't, a little voice in the back of his mind suddenly started squeaking at him, Nanako was clearly in danger. And just like his self-centered decision the day Tsuna had saved him from his scene on the roof, he pushed away anything justifiable to the back of his mind, his main focus now being on his mother's outfit.

Trying not to wake his father, he made his way back to his room, closing the door behind him. The bag was ripped to shreds immediately, and like the boy had promised the outfit was no longer scruffy and it was certainly clean. But there was one thing that the other boy had promised that Yamamoto was aware could never be fulfilled. He lifted the costume to his nose and inhaled deeply. A sweet smell filled his nostrils and without warning a choking sound escaped his lips. The only thing that could have made this costume's return 'perfect' was nothing that could ever be achieved again. Another choked sob escaped his lips, tears evidently becoming present on his cheeks. The distinctive scent of his past no longer resided on the article of clothing anymore. His eyes became blurrier, tears falling onto the fabric of the dress.

He couldn't smell her anymore, her existence becoming more distant by the second.

"_**Mother.**_"

The costume slipped from under his trembling fingers, and for the first time in years Yamamoto sobbed aloud.

* * *

><p>Nanako's mother still hadn't returned home yet, neither had Akio, and for once, it seemed like things were finally looking up for her. She knew a rant was headed her way, but least she was safe...<em>for now<em>. She wanted to prolong the meeting further, and with this idea in mind, she had slipped out of the house silently, taking one glance in the direction of Kyouya's bedroom before leaving. She had been rude to him earlier, she was aware of that. Yet at the same time the boy hadn't exactly been the epitome of kindness to her exactly! She was almost tempted to apologise, especially seeing as the items he had given her were working wonders.

Despite the warm weather, a hooded jacket along with the surgical mask from Kyouya were the best things to cover up the remains of last night's event. She didn't want passing strangers perceiving her as a thug, especially after common thugs were the reason she was even in this state in the first place.

Aware of the costume being back in Yamamoto's hands, Nanako felt rather relieved. That was one worry to tick off her list, and thanks to her little fight with Kyouya earlier, her troubles concerning his one-off actions from the night previous had also subsided. In spite of this, one concern still remained evident in her thoughts, and for that she headed straight to the shrine.

As she made her way up the stairs, she was greeted with the sight of the old man slowly sweeping away the remains of the festival, his whole body hunched over. She almost felt bad for the old man for leaving him to clean it up on his own but it wasn't like she was in a state to help.

"Shrine's closed today, come back in a couple of days," the old man grumbled, continuing his job without a second glance at her.

Letting down her hood and taking off the surgical mask, she turned to get the man's attention again.

"Kenji, it's me," she stated, and with the sound of her voice, the grumbling of the old man became more intense.

"About time you showed up! What do you have to say for yourself, running off like that, do you enjoy making a foo-"

The words stopped dead on his lips as he took in the sight of the damage from the night before, his eyes widening dramatically.

"Nanako...who did this to you?!" For the first time ever Kenji sounded distressed, and he had made his way over to Nanako abruptly, taking her in again.

"Who said I didn't do this to myself?" Nanako joked, trying to break the ice and in return rid the frightened as well as furious tone that was current in Kenji's voice.

But that didn't work, instead the man scowled even more, his forehead wrinkling in the process, "Don't lie to me Nanako, this was clearly not an accident!"

"They've been dealt with Kenji, it doesn-

"Yes it does matter! You're a state, how did this even? Who did this? Was it those boys from before because i'll-

"**Kenji!**" Nanako paused, she hadn't meant to shout, but it had effectively stopped the man in his tracks. Taking a deep breath in and relishing in the few seconds silence, she glanced over at the man. It was time to finally abolish this last remaining worry of hers,

"Kenji...you have to train me more…and this time, don't go easy on me."

* * *

><p>AN: Sup. So, umm hello, its been a long time since my last update. Mainly down to the fact that the last couple of years have been so jam packed because of exams and turning certain benchmark ages, i.e. I became legally an adult. It then didn't help that my house got broken into and in the process my laptop got smashed to bits. The main problem though I faced was this chapter though was an extreme case of writers block, this chapter for me and has been for years, the in between chapter, in which I had no ideas for, but I needed to get it out the way so I could write more and progress with what was in my head, which hopefully I can do now!<p>

I apologise if this is rather lacklustre for an update that's taken a good couple of years now.

While it might seem to trying to incorporate Yamamoto/OC, I am planning to make it extremely minor, so there won't be too much of that in this story. Nanako isn't a girl who will be fancied by everyone because that's just wrong, and unrealistic by far.

Again, sorry if this chapter sucked major balls, I hope that now with this out of the way I can finally write something more exciting.

Once again, I'm very sorry.

PS. There will be more than likely a few grammar mistakes, it doesn't help that i'm completely void of Microsoft Word at the moment, and haven't been in education for a year, losing my touch.


	14. Weapons and 'Urgh' Feelings

Shining in the midsummer sun, Nanako squinted at the sight of the thin, steel pole as it beckoned closer. Yet, unlike her feeble attempts in the past, she easily dodged it. Ducking, and sidestepping at the same time, she heard as the pole smacked harshly against the ground. Acknowledging the sudden position of the weapon, she twirled, lifting her leg rapidly before pressing it down hard onto the assaulter's hand. The kick was effective, the pole dropping to the floor in a matter of seconds and before the other could even attempt to reach for it, it was in her hands. With her training in mind, she mimicked the other's actions prior, and swiped her attacker to the floor.

"Gah." The other hit the floor abruptly, and in return, she brought down the blunt end of the pole hastily onto his chest, successfully pinning him to the floor. A moment's silence passed, and with it ferocious glares were exchanged between Nanako and the man, that was until,

"**I DID IT!**" The girl cheered noisily, releasing the pole off of the man's chest. Taking a step back Nanako threw the pole to the floor, ignoring the other as he winced at the crashing sound it made. But she didn't care, for the first time ever, she had successfully beaten Kenji and this time she knew he hadn't gone easy on her, she could just tell!

The sound of clapping could be heard from Kenji's direction causing the smile on Nanako's face to increase in size until she was wearing nothing more than a toothy grin.

"I'm impressed, you've really come on leaps and bounds, " she heard the man say, and with his compliments her head raised in the air triumphantly, her fists tightening together with excitement as she threw small, thrilled punches into the air, "_However..._"

At the sound of his hesitance, the success dance of Nanako's came to an abrupt halt, her shoulders immediately sagging. Here it came, there was always a '_however_' or a '**but**', not a 'well done Nanako' or 'you're the best now Nanako!'. Then again, she expected nothing less from Kenji.

"What did I _mess_ up this time?" She sighed loudly, facing the old man head on, arms crossed over her chest, her mood now ruined easily by one little word.

She had been training for the rest of the summer, and each session there was always something wrong. Sometimes it was her stance, or her technique, or even sometimes petty things like the fact her belt had come undone or her shoelace was untied, _**so just what was it now!**_

"Don't poug already Nanako, my criticism for this time is that you didn't think too deeply into your attacks, it's all good going in straight for the kill, but what if your kick hadn't worked, a downwards kick like yours could have gotten you into trouble, just way up your options next time."

"_**Geeezzzz**_" Nanako threw her arms into the air once more, this time the excitement had gone entirely, and in it's place was exasperation, "I can never do anything right for you can I?"

"Oh stop grumbling girl, I wouldn't be much of a teacher if I wasn't honest with you. The fighting world isn't all sugars, daises and kissing your cuts and bruises, you have to get real," the man barked and in return Nanako pouted more, her lips pursing together in a way that resembled a fish. So perhaps Kenji was right there, but she really didn't want to let him have the satisfaction and instead she turned, huffing as she did so, and grabbed for the broom that laid simultaneously in the background.

"Maybe I should just give up fighting all together and just clean the shrine all day instead, you would compliment me then, wouldn't you? You stingy old slave driver." Nanako flinched as the pole hit the top of her head, and she cried out a little in surprise, her fists clenched as she spun around to fight back.

"**That was mean!**" She cried shrilly, cradling her head in a melodramtic fashion, causing the man opposite to scowl even more, his arms crossing tightly over his chest as he shook his head.

"Stop acting like a child Nanako, you know you're skilful fighter already, why do I have to tell you that!?" Even though he had barked that at her Nanako instantly stopped the fake crying and beamed.

"That was all I wanted to hear," she explained happily, a shit-eating grin spreading from ear to ear took present on her face and she swept the broom along the floor gracefully in a Mary Poppin's like fashion. All of her actions of course being far too chirpier for Kenji's liking and thus Nanako could sense that it was time to clear off.

"You're a cocky little brat, you are aware of that right?" Kenji grumbled, rolling his eyes, "Now go home before I change my mind on teaching you any more."

"Aye aye captain!" she cheeped loudly, giggling over the man's sour expression, she was really pushing her luck, she knew that.

"Home. **Now**," Kenji ordered, shooing her away with the silver pole by poking it into her side, pushing her towards the shrine steps, "Go!"

"OK! OK, I'm off, bye Kenji!" she retorted, pushing the pole away before heading down the steps, not really paying much attention as she turned back to say her goodbyes. And in the process, she nearly missed a step, stumbling almost. Her hands wavered in the air as she tried to keep her body upright, but it was having none of it, and she fell backwards onto the steps. She had tried to pull a casual face as she sat clumsily on the steps, her face now shining a vibrant scarlet, it intensifying at the sound of the man's haughty laugh.

"And this is why you more need training, you clumsy oaf" he stated, that laugh of his getting on her nerves.

If there really was God, Nanako had a feeling he wasn't her biggest fan.

* * *

><p>Training came to a halt when school reared its ugly head around the corner, and in return Nanako shunned it's arrival, grumbling and groaning into her duvet like no tomorrow. If she was being completely honest with herself, she would have confessed that part of her actually missed education. The summer had made her rusty in terms of knowing the basics. Instead her mind was jammed pack with the ins and outs of body combat; if only you could pass grades on your fighting skills alone.<p>

Rolling over, she placed her arms underneath her head, and stared blankly at the ceiling. With school starting tomorrow she wondered if this term was going to be any different. Would she make a friend this time? There had been potential in Yamamoto, but she had blown that, especially seeing as she had hid from him all summer since the night at the shrine. But then again it wasn't like he had tried looking for her either. Obviously their friendship was not meant to be, but that still wasn't going to stop her from apologising tomorrow for what had happened to his mother's outfit; even though it wasn't entirely her fault.

On a side note, Nanako was becoming more aware that with her training it wasn't just her studies she had neglected. Grasping a strand of hair between her fingertips, she lifted it up to the light, examining the brunette streaks poking through the green. This was truly the only thing she had inherited from her father, another reason to dye it more. She didn't like remembering him, not because he was cruel or anything, he was far from it. In fact, Nanako's memories of him were all fond. He was loving, not around often due to work, yet on the other hand when he was around their relationship had been all piggybacks and smiles. _Smiles_...it was the fact that those smiles seemed so distant now. Her memory of him was becoming fainter by the second, and while most would cling to it, she had accepted it, and instead took the opposite approach. If she tried to eliminate his presence from her mind then maybe she wouldn't be so hung up over it. The hair dye had come first when she was 12, her friend's foster sister had done it in the bathroom sink at their house, and she had remembered being excited despite her childhood friend's hesitance. His sister was a fan, he hadn't really said much, just stared blankly before giving a feeble thumbs up, she had a feeling it wasn't to his liking. However, his reaction had been better than her mother's. That night had been nothing more than shouting, even her childhood friend had been scolded for not stopping her. She could still picture the look on her childhood-friend's face, eyes wide, stance like a startled rabbit. Her reaction would have normally been the same if she hadn't felt so adamant that the colour looked good. On the contrary, part of Nanako was conscious to why her mother had been so furious. It was Nanako's way of letting him go, and soon the last thing reminiscent thing about her father was hidden under a sea of emerald green. It was a cruel thing to do, but even Nanako had needed her own way of dealing with that.

What colour to dye it next though? Green was her colour of choice for the last 2 years, but she was starting to become tired of it. It washed out too easily, making the one thing she was trying to hide even harder to cover up. Blonde was on her mind, it was the opposite of her natural colour but on the other hand she could already picture the old ladies on the bus whispering. Then again it wasn't like they didn't whisper already. Perhaps a colour that was even more striking than the green was in order. Purple? Hot Pink? A bright orange? Or maybe something even more different than that; the opposite.

**Black**. It was like a lot of others. Whilst it was dark like her natural hair colour, it was a whole different colour entirely. Maybe it would help her blend in, not that was essentially her main priorty, if that was the truth then the goggles and the green hair would have never existed. Yet, she was a different person now, and perhaps blending it was her best bet.

"Black it is then."

* * *

><p>There was an intruder in the house, and they were casually sitting on the sofa. <strong>What intruder sat in someone's home like it was no ones business?!<strong> Had the baby sent them? Were they someone he could fight? Hibari had no idea, but before long the intruder was already pinned beneath him, a loud choking noise escaping their throat as he wedged his tonfa under their chin.

"**KYOYA!**" the intruder cried, coughing and spluttering causing Kyoya do a double take, his tonfa still firmly pushed up against her throat. Hazel eyes peered up him, wide with shock. **His herbivore stepsister**. She was just as uncomfortable as he was feeling right now, his body still straddling her to the sofa. Why did she look so different? But then again it was obvious, the green was gone, and instead a hair colour like his own had taken it's place. It was alarming to say the least, he was almost getting used to colour before, he had quite liked the fact she had kept her hair green. Not because he had liked the way it looked but quite the opposite, and that was good, stuff like that distracted him from the looming possibility that there was something about this herbivore that attracted him. Yet now it was gone, and even though it was no different from the majority of the others in this country, it really did suit her; _unbearably so_. She squirmed underneath him, her fingertips gently brushing his biceps as she feebly reached in an attempt to push him off. He was being repulsive again, and from the girl's red face, it seemed she believed so too. He scrambled off quickly, leaving the girl still rather ridged on the sofa. He needed to get away from her. Turning on his heel, he headed for the hallway, unable to resist a glance in her direction. She was now sat bolt upright, straightening herself out, running her fingers through her hair in a fluid motion, not a knot in sight. He could already feel the silkiness of it under his fingertips, his body itching to intimate her actions. **No**, he needed to get away, _**he needed too!**_

He could hear her voice calling after him from the living room, "What was that for? Oh was it because of my hair colour?"

**No it wasn't, it certainly wasn't**, his mind screamed, but there was no convincing it. He bet it felt like satin, his fingers twitching at the thought.

"You must of thought I was an intruder right? Oh ok I get you, it's good that I'm not right, who knows you might have killed me!" **_Shut up herbivore_**. He didn't bother replying just picked up the pace, the journey to his room taking longer in his mind than normal.

"HEY! So despite the fact you almost killed me, do you like my hair?" He slammed his bedroom door behind him effectively cutting off her voice and took a deep breath in. Leaning against the wall, he tried his best to remain composed, but it wasn't long till his tonfa smashed ferociously into the wall, the metal producing a small hole in the wall due to the sheer force of his blow.

_'Do you like my hair?'_ Her statement echoed boorishly in his mind, like a persistent fly that needed swatting. It echoed once more, becoming noisier by the second, almost as if she was stood by him. He reached back to strike the wall again, but stopped the tonfa mere centimetres away, he didn't need to generate any more damage to his father's house just because he was having foul, inappropriate thoughts. Swiping his hand through his own hair, he clasped his hand firmly over his eyes, comfortable in the forced darkness. If he only she wasn't here, if only he could hide from her, pathetic really. He was for the first time in a long time pathetic.

_'Do you like my hair?'_ **Yes**, he thought, a scoff escaping from his throat, followed by bitter laugh.

_Yes, I like your hair, perhaps **too** much._

* * *

><p>"Nanako Eugchi?"<p>

"Here."

The class turned, and for the first time in her life Nanako felt scrutinised. Yes, in the past others had stared at her due to her choice of fashion sense, the anime printed bag and most importantly her hair colour. But for the first time in Nanako's life, she felt like she had just landed on Earth, and she was an alien.

"Who's she?" A voice whispered noisily across the classroom, only for it to be followed by whispers similar.

"Is that No-good Tsuna's cousin?"

"I've never seen her before."

"Did we get a new student?" That statement hit her hard, was she really that unnoticeable? Or was this change really that different?

She lowered slowly into her seat as the teacher barked at the others to quiet down before continuing on with the morning register, but that didn't stop a few questioning looks passed her way. What did this mean? That she finally looked normal or something? The stares were as bad as her first day at this school, but this time they didn't connect to the obvious places, instead they looked her up in down in a slowly lecherous manner that cause the girl to hunch over, shoulders raised like a feral cat.

They didn't last for long though, the stares had subsided and instead took focus in other subjects, some on the chalkboard, a lot on the school idol Kyoko, who per usual beamed, naive to the hungry wolves that surrounded her.

At ease, she peered towards the back of the class, wondering if _he_ had been staring too. Strangely, disappointment stabbed it's sharp, imaginary blade into her chest as she took in Yamamoto Takeshi, clearly looking in every direction but her own. In fact at one point she had made it blatantly obvious that she was staring at him, widening her eyes almost in a comedic effect in an attempt to get his attention, but still his eyes were routed to anyone but her. Had she really done something that bad?

"Yamamoto Takeshi," the boy flinched in his seat at the sound of the teacher's voice, and with that their eyes met. She had been caught this time, and in a way so had he. The teacher continued to ask his question, which in return Yamamoto supplied the wrong answer causing the teacher to groan loudly, but his eyes didn't falter from hers. She had him now.

_'I'm sorry, I'm sorry,'_ she mouthed repetitively with the hope that he understood her. She didn't want to have a long running feud with the most popular guy in class that was for sure, and she really was sorry, more so than she think Takeshi realised. Now, from observing the other in the past when he stood around Tsuna, she knew that his expression would soften-

**His expression never softened,** instead his eyes appeared pained as he turned away, Nanako's stomach filling with dread, it pricking her insides sharply. Well that settled it, he really did hate her after all. She had sort of realised that but she hadn't expected it to suck this much.

With a combination of her dampened mood and first day back school fever, the class became a blur, her eyes blank and expressionless. It wasn't till the lunch bell rang and the sound of scrapping chairs was she knocked out of her stupor. She watched silently as others began to leave. _Just stay put_, her mind told her firmly, but the chair moved loudly from underneath her, and her body began to move on it's own, until she was stood like a blockade in front of Yamamoto Takeshi.

He remained wordless, but she wasn't naive to the wide-eyed look he was giving her. His teeth noticeably sinking into his top lip, but she ignored his discomfort. She needed him to acknowledge her apology.

"Yamamoto, I know I shouldn't have been wearing that costume that night, but I was not that aware that you hadn't given permission for us to use it. Kenji had told me it was-

She gritted her teeth, **she was just making excuses now!**

"That doesn't matter, it was my fault that it got scruffy, but I just acted on impulse, I heard Tsuna screaming, and I wanted to help, he's my family...I just didn't know they would take it that far..." she explained, fidgeting at his lack of response. His eyes were motionless, and his face was alien without that unconditional smile she was so used to seeing. She just had to accept that Yamamoto wasn't going to accept her apology. The prospect of her finally getting a friend here was just a fluke, a fluke of a summer's day. _**Man did that suck**_, she thought, her eyes for some reason becoming watery.

_Why do I feel like crying? I hardly know the guy_, she thought sourly, rubbing at her eyes before tears threatened to fall. She hadn't realised at this the guy now appeared more pained than previous, his hand clenching and releasing as if resisting the urge to comfort her.

_You're a big girl now Nanako_, she told herself, giving her eyes one last firm rub, hoping they weren't red raw, _not everyone will be your friend_.

A shaky sigh escaped her lips and she composed herself, trying to stand taller than before.

Her eyes locked onto his for what she thought was possibly the last time and out came a voice that appeared to be stronger than before, "I suppose my apology is not going to work, but I truly am sorry. Shame really, I thought we might have become friends."

Without turning back, not wanting to make a fool of herself any more, she swung on heel, clutching her bag tight to stop herself for sobbing like a spoilt child. Trying to make it seem like she wasn't running away, she headed out the door, this time not turning once to stare at Yamamoto.

With her presence gone, the other frowned, nibbling on his bottom lip as he stood unmoving from the classroom. He knew what he had done was unfair, but...

"_A deal's a deal Nanako_."

* * *

><p>The house was pretty much silent, but Hibari could tell someone was present, the sound of a spoon swirling round a porcelain teacup coming from the kitchen. He was aware of his father's work schedule, and noted it was too early for him to be home. His herbivore of a stepsister didn't drink tea or coffee either, he knew by observing her that she had a preference for fruit juices, too sweet for Kyoya's taste. So, it was his stepmother.<p>

Sat at the kitchen table, the spoon laid haphazardly next to her cup, a drop of tea pooling onto the table ,was the woman. Her hair was tied up neatly, but from her loosened tie, undone top buttons and untucked shirt, he could tell that her smart attire was for the office only.

"Good afternoon Kyoya," she hadn't even looked up once, causing Hibari almost to flinch as she greeted him. In learning more about his new mother, he established to himself that this one was a lot sharper than he had previously thought. At first he had thought she would have been like her daughter, but instead the woman gave off a feeling of being a lot calmer in manner. Hibari hadn't really interacted with many older women before. He had had pretty much ignored teachers till they had given up on him, just appreciating the fact his grades were far from above average. He had never had grandparents, his mother's and father's parents dying before he was born or too young to remember. The only woman he had really reacted to was his mother, back when he was pitiful child, her presence back in the past with his old, pathetic self.

The woman sitting at the table was nothing like her, his memories of his mother fit a certain stereotype, a perfect housewife, a dotting mother. This making his last memory of her too strange to comprehend even now. As the suppressed memory began to resurface, Hibari dug his nails into his palm and squeezed his eyes tight, until it locked itself away once again.

"Good afternoon," he replied back politely, the woman's eyes finally hitting him. _Yes_, everything about this woman was different than his deplorable mother. She perhaps wasn't as beautiful as the woman from his childhood, but she was certainly a looker. Slender frame, long auburn hair, almond shaped eyes, delicate features, she knew why her father was to attracted her. On the other hand, her demeanour was not at all womanly, despite the performance she put up, being in her presence felt like being in the presence of a man, an elder almost. Even though the woman was in her mid 30s, still perceivable young, a noticeably frown line was etched into her forehead, Hibari only guessing that it was something she did a lot, as if it was the only way to stop herself from exploding. Then again with a daughter like that herbivore, he could tell why. Her eyes as she watched him silently were cool and collected but Hibari was far from naive to the pain that lingered in them. That pain was familiar to him in a sense, he had seen that before in his mother, even at the tender age of 6, he had known something was up, but he didn't feel the need to pry into this woman's life, nor did he care to.

She was staring at him like she had wanted to say more, so Hibari lingered, watching her quietly as he headed to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water.

"I'm surprised Nanako isn't home yet," she uttered, glancing down at her watch, that pain he had noticed before becoming more intense, "I mean she is at your school and all."

"She works at the shrine I suppose, I just wonder what keeps her up there that long," Arisa stated, as if talking to herself, in fact her statement seemed almost rhetorical.

"You don't perhaps see her at school much do you Kyoya?" the woman asked, leaning over the table to get a better look at him. Kyoya shook his head, in all honesty he was concious of her appearance, more so than he would ever admit to anyone, even himself.

"_Oh_," the woman spoke, looking rather crestfallen into her teacup, "I was just wondering if she had made any friends at school, she was never a big fan of big groups it seemed, but I was hoping least she would have had one friend like she did back in Shimon. I would feel bad if she didn't have any friends, especially after pulling her away from that poor boy back there."

Hibari didn't really know what to say. _Yes,_ he had observed the girl, observed as she had sat calmly tucked away nearly everyday of school, quietly eating lunch by herself, always staring at groups of people, looking forlorn at her cousin before she went back to chewing her food. That boy Arisa had mentioned was probably the reason she glanced at her phone so often, the 'boyfriend', the mousy voice he had once heard when he had confiscated her phone in the past. Even though he had never met the boy, Hibari felt himself grinding his teeth. He should have hated himself for relishing in the fact the girl was always alone. Seeing her alone was rather too calming for him, and disregarding how bad that sounded, he remained apathetic.

Yet, he didn't want to worry this woman, he wasn't entirely monstrous. He could see from the dark circles under her eyes and and the tiny wrinkles around her eyes that thinking about her daughter all the time was ageing her.

"Yes, I've seen her with others," he lied, "She has friends."

The woman shot him an uncertain look, her fingers clenching around her teacup.

"That's great, I mean you would have no reason to lie to me, right?" She asked, a hint of asperity in her tone that Hibari wasn't ignorant too.

Hibari had to be more alert to women like these. Her gaze didn't leave his, her hand signalling for him to take a seat opposite.

"Now, Kyoya, it's rather degrading to perceive me as so gullible," she stated, smirking slightly as she took a sip from her cup, blowing on it gently from time to time.

"I'm aware that Nanako is a little different, so am and so was her father, but unlike Nanako and her father, I've always been a lot more fussy when it came to choosing who to believe."

"What are you trying to get at?" Hibari questioned, a glare materialising on his face as the woman calmly observed him, as if trying to calculate his every thought and movement. Was his father alert to this personality of hers? Hibari could only wonder. He deemed his father an intelligent man, but this woman was in possession of a very convincing poker face, something he hadn't expected due to her offspring's behaviour.

"I can tell when someone's lying to me, that's all," she said, her face breaking out into a thin smile, but those frown lines on her forehead began to show, becoming deep.

"She seems surprisingly fitter nowadays, has she joined the track team or something?" Arisa suggested and Hibari knew that her activities and her sudden increase in fitness were nothing to do with an after-school club. He still hadn't fathomed out the reason for her intensive training, just why did she need that?

"I'm not sure," again he was lying, and regretted his words as once more he was eye-balled harshly.

"Find out what's she doing," the woman stated, and Hibari frowned, he was not this woman's lapdog, but it wasn't long till the woman's cool disposition had crumbled.

She convulsed, tears threatening to fall from her eyes, her voice trembled, "It's probably nothing but after what h-happened to her father, I can't help but feel paranoid."

"I know we haven't been in your life long," her hand grasped his over the table and he tried his hardest not to recoil at the action, "But please, look after her for me. That girl has always been adamant in looking after herself, and I've sat and watched her come home bruised and battered, pretending like its **nothing**!"

The agonising quality in her voice grew, her hold constricting tighter around his hand, "**What's a mother to do if her child won't let her protect her?!**"

A sobbing noise did escape then and Hibari couldn't help but feel awkward, sneakily attempting to pull his fingers out of her grasp, but to no avail he was stuck.

"So that's why, _please_, maybe if she had a protective big brother...she would finally be safe! So I'm begging you, please Kyoya, _**please**_," she cried out desperately. That rock-hard attitude before had disappeared completely and a vulnerable, conflicted woman appeared in its place.

Normally he would have uttered how pathetic the whole affair was, shoved her off like it was nothing, but something amongst her begging had gone straight to his conscience.

The word big brother had hit him hard. They were siblings, not related by blood, but in the eyes of the law, she was still his little sister. Bile rose to his throat as he recalled sinful thoughts from the week before, the sinful thoughts he had now been having for months. He was her brother, yet not once had he thought of her as a little sister. With her hazel eyes, mixed raced appearance and stupid personality that drove him weirdly crazy.

The woman's face was hanging on his reply, desperation lacing her features. He was her brother, and what did big brothers do? _Protect their siblings_.

"Ok," his reply was short and lacklustre but the effect it had on the woman opposite was dramatic, her shoulders noticeably relaxed, her features softened. Her eyes were still glassy but instead of the pleading appearance they now seemed calm and serene.

"Thank you," she answered, her voice quiet but laced full of appreciation, "Thank you Kyoya."

Maybe acting like her brother was what he needed to dispel his growing attraction and numb his stupid teenage hormones, or perhaps it was what he needed to do to atone from the shameful thoughts that clutched his brain so hard that it was driving him crazy.

* * *

><p>Stood inside one of the shrine rooms, Nanako waited patiently whilst observing the old man open one of the cupboards. Hunching over, and almost disappearing into the seemingly deep cupboard, rattling noises were heard, and Nanako had to dodge as things flew in her direction. The room now filled with pointless objects such as blankets, Nanako wondered what exactly Kenji was looking for, and also how <strong><em>deep <em>**that cupboard was.

"Where is this blasted thing?" She heard Kenji grumble under his breath, before a satisfied noise finally left his mouth, "Got them."

His body rolling back out of the cupboard, Nanako 's eyes caught onto the box between Kenji's hands. A thick layer of dust was blown in her direction and she coughed loudly in reaction, both her hands sealing tightly over her mouth to dispel the dirt particles from her lungs.

"W-hat's that?" she asked through a cough, pointing towards the box, it gradually getting cleaner and more refined as Kenji casually wiped it with one of the blankets.

"Hang on," the man commanded and Nanako waited patiently as the man fiddled with the latch.

_**Click**_. Kenji opened the lid with care and Nanako found herself fidgeting, resisting the urge to peer over into the contents of the box.

"I've been thinking of this for some time. I mean hand to hand combat only goes so far, and if you keep picking fights with hoodlums then you'll need something more powerful," the man stated, turning the box around to reveal what was inside.

She had never seen this type of weapon before. In a way it reminded her of those things Kyoya carried around. She examined it diligently, taking in the sight of a mid-length steel rod with a hook attached to the side. As she picked it up by the handle the weight of it presented itself. It wasn't too heavy but saying it was light would have been wrong. In a way it felt just right. Swishing it to the side and the jabbing it up slightly, her eyes flickered over to the man opposite.

"What is it called?" she inquired, trying not to seem stupid, but then again this weapon was certainly not one of her time.

"That's a Jitte, it was used in the Edo period by the samurai police, it was passed down my family, I was never quite told who it belonged to, but somehow it made its way into my possession, and now I want you to have it."

Nanako was shocked, why oh why was Kenji giving her such a valuable possession? Wasn't it worth anything to him? Looking up through her eyelashes and then back down at the weapon in her grasp, she hesitantly ran her fingers against the rod of the weapon, it smooth to the touch. The end was blunt and she began to wonder what the hook was for.

"The hook is used for catching swords and knives, sometimes if used right you'll be able to break the blade, but mainly you'll be able to catch the blade and effectively trap your assailant and disable them," almost like he had read her mind Kenji answered her thoughts.

"You think this is the right one for me?" she stated, not sure why Kenji was entrusting her with a weapon such as this.

"I do," the man responded, not hint of hesitation present in his voice, "Nanako you're not a violent person, I sometimes catch you frowning when we've practised with the metal pole. This weapon can cause damage but it is mainly just a self defence weapon, an effective one at that. It fits your image, you're a protector."

Kenji's words were really hitting her hard, her chest swelling happily, it was all too flattering.

"I almost feel like a vigilante of a justice with that description Kenji," she joked preparing herself for Kenji's normally scowly self, waiting for him to insult her on something like her clumsiness as per usual. Nothing came though, instead Nanako sat there wide eyed as she observed the soft appearance in Kenji's stature.

"I'll teach you how to master this weapon, and one other thing," the man reached for the weapon, taking it off her before he suddenly started to unscrew the handle. Pulling it towards himself, Nanako almost gasped at what had been hidden away.

"There's a hidden stiletto in the handle, in case of emergencies, and only in emergencies," Kenji told her firmly, but Nanako was still enthralled by the fact this weapon had a secret accompaniment, and it was a freaking jabby blade!

"That's just _too_ freaking cool." And once again Kenji's familiar scowl had made it's comeback.

* * *

><p>11 o'clock, this was the latest she had been out before. Normally he swore she would be back at the house by 9, but today seemed different. As she was heading down the shrine steps, he noticed the glow to her cheeks as if she had just run a marathon, but nonetheless the girl was practically skipping down the shrine steps. He assumed this was probably not what her mother had meant when she had said be a protective older brother, but these were his methods. Any normal person would have considered it creepy, but he was Hibari Kyouya, he didn't give a shit about what people thought of him. Trying to stay hidden, thankfully it was dark, he watched as the girl walked steadily down the empty road, humming happily, but after a while, the humming sounded awkward. Those hazel eyes looked around in a urgent manner causing Hibari to still, had she spotted him or was there something else? She was biting her lip, shrugging but her pace had doubled in speed. It wasn't him, she would have called him out, but something had spooked her. <em>What was it?<em>

Out of nowhere, the girl in front had began to jog, but soon the jog evolved into a run, and with the increase her stride, Hibari became aware of what had the girl on edge.

_Figures_, a group of six or seven were following her, and soon they were running after her speedily. The girl was fast but the sudden pressure of the situation was clearly getting to her, and she headed stupidly for the alleyway. Hibari knew Namimori like the back of his hand, that alleyway led to a dead end. Was it time for him to act like a protective big brother?

Keeping in the shadows, he ran to a get a clear angle to see if the girl needed help without exposing himself. From what he could see, the group of followers hadn't quite caught up yet, and he watched silently as the girl caught her breath, her palm pressed firmly on her chest as she wheezed. Her hand dropped though, and he noticed as it delved straight into her backpack, hastily searching from something, and by catching a glimpse, he swore he saw a flash of silver. Just what did she have? Whatever it was, it was now situated behind her back and she dropped the bag, and Hibari watched as she took one last shaky breath before routing herself to the floor. **Why the hell wasn't she running?!**

It wasn't long till her followers had found her, swarming her, there was way too many for someone as weak as her. Was it time now?

"You guys," he heard her say, her voice laced with disgust, "Do you literally have _nothing_ better to do?"

Whoever it was, the herbivore knew who they were, had these idiots been following her around for a while? He couldn't fathom out why that made him so angry.

"I see the number we did on you has healed, what a fucking shame, I was really looking forward to seeing a scar on that ugly face of yours," one spat, possibly the leader, his build about twice the size of the girl, but despite this, the girl's face remained strong and ferocious.

"What about the number we did on you? I can't believe we could make a face like that uglier, how is that even possible?" she replied cynically, and he couldn't believe such a weak herbivore like her had the balls to smirk even though she was incredibly outnumbered.

The thug hadn't liked that, his fist clenching hard, the veins in his neck popping out, but he hadn't quite let the anger overtake him yet.

"And where are these friends of yours now? Oh wait, you haven't got any have you?" he remarked venomously and the a hurt expression surfaced briefly on the girl's face before her eyebrows arched even more.

"Lonely, little weak girl, this time we'll teach you a lesson you'll never forget." This was it, he could already see them drawing in, like hungry wolves on a defenceless rabbit.

"That's where you're wrong! It's my turn to teach you a lesson," the girl shouted and out of nowhere the flash of the silver was back and not before too long one of the gang members was stooped over, a intense choking sound escaping the scene.

Hibari found the whole scene alarming, his mouth threatening to open in disbelief as he watched as another gang member smack harshly into the ground as she sent a kick into their side.

Soon, she was only down to 3, already taking out 4 with that weapon of hers through a regime of jabbing, swiping and body combat. _Was this the result of those late nights?!_

"How the fuck?" one sounded, his whole body convulsing in an angry disbelief. Hibari was stunned also. Another one went down and a foot hit his chest brutally, winding him completely.

The group leader still remained standing as the last one went down, a showdown ready to commence. She was lagging though, he could tell, this was getting too much for her, the sounds of breaths becoming notably audible.

"Aw, you're getting tired you little freak of nature," jeered the gang leader, and Hibari found his body ready to spring into action when he observed the knife between his fingers.

"I'm going to slice you up real good, actually turn you into a real freak of nature," he threatened, and the knife swung in her direction. She barely dodged, but it was smooth enough. She tried to jab the other but missed, he had caught onto her technique. The knife plunged down again, this time she couldn't escape, he needed to jump in now or-

A noisy clanking sound echoed through the alleyway and Hibari watched bemused as the knife was now firmly caught in the hook attached to the herbivore's weapon. From the look on the thug's face, he hadn't expected that, Hibari hadn't either, but now all he could do was observed completely bemused as Nanako and the hoodlum's fight turned into a violent struggle. Except that herbivore had the upper-hand. With the blade caught, the other remained insistent in not letting go and tried to jerk his own weapon free, but to no avail it stayed put.

The girl seized the opportunity, twisting her weapon a certain angle and with it her assailant's arm, the man crying out, his reaction being to drop his weapon. The herbivore had successful disarmed the other and without giving him a moment to recover, she pulled back her weapon and struck the other hard across the face, the sheer force of the blow knocking the guy over.

Now breathing heavily, the girl glanced around wildly, reaching down for her bag, slipping the strange looking weapon inside before slugging it onto her back. All Hibari could do now was stare, mouth ajar as the girl quick stepped over the unconscious bodies, exiting the alleyway. The girl took one look back at her handiwork before sprinting away.

Her transformation was truly outstanding if Hibari was to compare the girl to the herbivore he had met at the start of the year. Just what had her and that old man been doing exactly?!

Another question he felt that needed answering also was 'why the sudden insistence on training to be a fighter?'.

This wasn't on most teenage girl's to do list, clearly she had a motive, and for some reason despite his knowledge on the girl's obsession with poorly written fiction and superhero comics, he didn't think that was her motivation.

_**So just what was it?**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: A bit of a longer chapter here, I basically wanted to get certain events in mind out of the way as I'm currently writing the chapter that will finally tie into the Kokuyo arc. Finally. I hope the fight scene doesn't come off as the dreaded Mary Suish type thingy mejiggy, I thought seeing as I've been writing for ages how this character has done nothing but train, it's about time she kicked some butt or something. Show a transformation or something. <strong>_

_**Plus I wanted to introduce a weapon. At first I was liking the idea of having Nanako have a pole like weapon like the one she had been training with, so I did a lot of research on pole-like weapons but every single one of them had bloody like axes on the ends or were pikes...I wanted something she could carry around with her everyday without being questioned, so yeah, a pole soon became out of the question. **_

_**I wanted Nanako to use a blunt weapon seeing as I don't want her character to accidentally stab someone, so I then looked up 'club' like weapons, searching for ones that focused more on being used mostly for self defence and disarming without killing someone. So I had a look and most were too viscous until I came across the Jitte/Jutte. While it's a very old fashioned weapon not only was it used for self defence but it was also a Japanese weapon, fitting in with the setting a lot better.**_

_**I apologise if the grammar and spelling isn't '10 outta 10', still sobbing over my lack of Microsoft Office and money at the same time.**_

_**First and foremost, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. The next chapter is shorter, but pretty much finished, but I'll probably give it a few days before releasing it and write another chapter during. Then there might be a short break from writing as I'll have just started University.**_

_**I don't want to be a nag, but I really enjoy reviews, so if you like it *hint hint* drop me a cheeky one please (Jesus Christ why did I write that...)**_

_**Thanks for everyone who alerted, faved and reviewed the last chapter, I really appreciated it and I hope this one will be a bit better.**_


	15. The School's Strongest

The tension around Namimori middle school was so thick you could have cut it with a knife, and Nanako couldn't blame the damp moods. As if worrying about their education wasn't enough, out of nowhere, student after student got sent to hospital. To start off, it had seemed a one off, whispers of notably strong upperclassman been beaten within an inch of their life. However, members of their school, the tough lads, and the members of the disciplinary gang, the boxing club, karate club, and kendo, anyone physically fit had been targeted and soon the assaults were becoming so frequent it had made the news. Students almost too scared to come into school or even leave the house in fear of being targeted next. Nanako had still gone to school even though her mother insisted she stayed home. She wasn't going to get targeted that was for sure, and why was that? She had noticed a pattern to the targets. They all shared one thing in common; they were people who were considered brawny or talented in combat, their school fame relying on that. She didn't consider herself either of those things. With this in mind, her eyes shifted to the back of the classroom, she had a feeling he would be targeted soon, Yamamoto Takeshi. Even though they weren't friends exactly, that didn't stop Nanako fretting over him. In fact, it was hard to concentrate when her mind was becoming full to the brim with people who she was positive were going to be attacked next. She needed to speak to Reborn. There was no way she could not be the only one thinking this, and in a way she felt that these attacks, while they appeared random, had something to do with her cousin.

As the class drew to an end, she headed to the back of the classroom without even thinking. Once more she became a blockade for Yamamoto Takeshi. She was aware of his current dislike towards her, but she needed to express her concerns.

"I know you don't like me, but just hear me out please," she demanded as the boy tried to swerve around her. She never had Yamamoto down as rude. He tried again but Nanako was quicker, her hand latching tightly onto his forearm.

"Yamamoto Takeshi!" she barked and if she hadn't known better the boy had flinched. A few heads at the front of the class turned and the sudden pressure of everyone staring made her feel awkward. Fingers still gripped tight, she ignored all the stares and began to yank the taller boy out of the classroom, surprisingly he hadn't resisted. In a quieter place, away from prying eyes, she let him go.

"To start off, tell me something, is Tsuna ok?" she cut straight to the chase; she wasn't beating around the bush, her voice deadly serious and laced with worry. She hadn't seen him today; perhaps he had got caught up into this mess already. Part of her didn't think he was hurt yet though, if had been sent to hospital they would have surely got a call from Auntie Nana. She also couldn't imagine Reborn letting Tsuna get hurt.

The boy remained silent, and Nanako returned his silence with a loud groan. **No**, this wasn't acceptable anymore, she had ignored it long enough, but right now, the boy was being petty.

Grabbing onto the boy's shirt collar, she wrenched him down to eye level, her face growing redder by the second.

"Now, I understand you've got some beef with me, but could you not just forget it for **two seconds**," she snapped fiercely, overlooking his startled appearance, "I'm talking about your friend here and my cousin...get your head out your ass for a second and just answer my **damn** question!"

She was seething, if this boy was quiet any longer, she had actually considered lugging him in the face.

"He's fine, they're at the hospital right now, Gokudera was attacked," _**finally an answer!**_ Even if it happened to be bad and good news at the same time.

"See was that so hard?" she stated cynically, her voice still heavy with aggravation. She let go of the other, taking a deep breath in order to compose herself.

"I realize you don't like me, but Tsuna is not the only one I'm worried about. I worried for you too," she admitted, "There's a pattern to these attacks, whoever it is, they're targeting the school's strongest, and you Yamamoto Takeshi are one of those, I feel it won't be long till they come for you."

Especially seeing as Gokudera had suffered already. She couldn't believe it when she was met with silence again, scoffing aloud. Here she was pouring her heart out, voicing her genuine concerns, and he was brushing them off so coldly. Perhaps Yamamoto Takeshi wasn't exactly who she thought he was?

"Y'know, I had you down as a good person, you seemed so accepting. I take it I was wrong," she utterly coldly, "Just make sure you look after Tsuna, if I find out he's been hurt, I will punch you, I'm done being apologetic."

With that Nanako turned on her heel and stalked off down the corridor, leaving the boy to himself.

* * *

><p>"Reborn!" The image of a black fedora and a flash of orange and green caught the corner of her eye. After her run in with Yamamoto, she had skipped class, something she would never normally do, but considering what was going on at the moment; lessons were very lackluster in a sense due to the absences. By skipping class, she made it her mission to find the baby, there was a possibility he wasn't at school, but she just had a feeling that he was lurking about here today.<p>

Chasing the image, her assumption was seemingly correct, and in front of her, sat calmly, surprisingly with a cup of tea, was the baby hit man, his round black saucers for eyes staring straight up at Nanako.

"Ciaossu Nanako, it's been a while," he greeted her casually, taking a sip from his cup, and in return Nanako nodded.

"From the looks of it, you've certainly changed," the baby stated, settling his teacup down and jumping onto her shoulder. Brushing against his ear, she could feel him crouching, the weight of him surprisingly not causing her arm to dip all that much. A tiny hand touched her arm before giving it a good squeeze, "Muscular, you have been training hard, haven't you?"

She frowned, muscular really wasn't a word a girl particularly wanted to hear, but least her efforts had finally being acknowledged.

"By the feel of this, it could be possible that you've been training harder than Tsuna, whoever your teacher is, I have no doubt they're a strong individual," the baby said, having another squeeze, and Nanako found herself nodding again. _Yes_, Kenji was possibly the strongest man she had ever met, especially for his age, just thinking about the old man really made her feel the need to soon show her appreciation for all he had done for her. Even if he was a grouchy, old fart.

"So, you are serious about joining Tsuna's mafia family then?" the baby asked, the weight from her shoulder disappearing as he was once again perched back on the windowsill opposite.

"Yes, I know I'm far off, but I want you to know I am dead serious, he's my family, I want to be able to protect him, he's always been a fragile person," she explained, recalling her visits to Namimori in the past where there had been many occasions of a snotty nosed, crying Tsuna being chased around by animals, or being bullied by other kids at the park. Like her times in Shimon with her best friend, she had attempted to stand up for herself and Tsuna in the past also, and a lot of occasions it had resulted in them both being beaten up or her scaring them off with general weirdness as the other would continue to blubber.

"And you're not fragile?" the baby sounded, his words almost sounding rhetorical, snapping Nanako out of her thoughts. _**What the hell was that supposed to mean?!**_

"I'm not-

"Oh but that's quite the contrary, Nanako, your eyes tell me everything," the baby cut in, his words felt harsher than she had expected. Scowling, Nanako attempted to change the subject to the reason she had been looking for Reborn in the first place.

"I heard Gokudera is in the hospital, how bad is it?" she asked, and the baby shrugged, his mouth turning down at the corners a little.

"It's not great, who told you that?" the baby enquired, and in return her mind began to wander back to her one-sided yelling match at Yamamoto 20 minutes ago.

"Yamamoto, but that's not important. You're aware that the people who have been targeted are all of the school's strongest individuals, right?"

"So, you've caught onto that, not as naive as you used to be Nanako, you certainly have changed," the baby smirked, his backhand compliment made Nanako want to frown.

"It's got something to do with Tsuna, hasn't it?" she asked and the baby hummed in response.

"Once again, you're getting sharper Nanako Euguchi."

"Enough about me Reborn, before Tsuna gets attacked or anyone gets attacked I want to bring the culprits down!" she announced decisively, yet she soon became nerved by the other's silence. For some reason everyone was really into giving her the silent treatment today, _just peachy_.

When the silence ended, an uncomfortable feeling surfaced in the bottom of Nanako's stomach, as Reborn's face seemed to harden, his voice now a lot stricter than before, "You'll be staying out of this Nanako."

Shock struck her body like a lightning bolt. _What?_ _**How could she just stay out of this?!**_

"No, I'm helping and that's that!" she retorted angrily, but the baby shook his head, his expression unwavering.

"We have no idea who the culprits are at the moment, and if they do turn out to be after Tsuna, they'll be a lot stronger than anyone you've had the opportunity of fighting, even if you have been practicing Nanako, you're not strong enough for this," the baby said, his tone hard and callous. She had never felt so frustrated in her life, her foot stamping a little as her mind replayed his words. **Not strong enough!** **NOT STRONG ENOUGH! **Who we he to judge? So he's a world class hitman. That still didn't give him any right to make decisions for her! And he had just been complimenting her training efforts, so why weren't they enough?! How on earth was she supposed to improve?! How on earth was she supposed to protect Tsuna if Reborn wouldn't even let her help?! _**ARRRRGH**_, this was really getting to her.

"That's not fair," she snapped, she was starting to sound like a spoilt brat, but honestly it really was getting to her and as a result her face had turned a vibrant shade of scarlet. Her cheeks had expanded; an accurate description of her right now would be that she looked like a furious squirrel.

"Don't be a baby Nanako," Reborn replied, rolling his eyes and smacking her on the forehead, "There will come a time ok, so for then just be patient!"

That caused her to calm down a little, so he hadn't out ruled her completely.

"Keep this up," his fingers pointed up and down her body, "And you'll soon be capable of being in Tsuna's mafia family. Just stay out of this for now."

Huffing loudly, she crossed her arms, her lips rubbing together tightly as if that helped expel her anger.

"I'm still mad," she muttered, a lot calmer but still annoyed.

"Shut up Medusa."

"MY HAIR IS NOT EVEN GREEN ANYMORE!" _**God damn it Reborn.**_

* * *

><p>More and more news of others being attacked kept popping up its ugly head to the point absences were becoming a real problem at Namimori Middle School. Part of her wondered what her stupid stepbrother would have to say about the whole situation; he would probably just say something dumb like 'I'll bite them to death'. Weirdo, obsessed with school pride,<p>

Training had ended at 8pm that night, her lesson today focused more on how to use the Jitte, and the more and more she used it, the more it had felt really natural in her palm.

It was dark as she walked home, most people would have normally found it creepy, but somehow the dark was sort of relaxing to a certain extent, and with nightfall, a soft breeze became evident, which after training hard felt euphoric.

There was a certain stretch of road she was never comfortable walking down though, for many reasons. First off, the road was very empty mainly down to the fact it had been shut for the prospects of a new motorway elsewhere. Second off, the only thing that existed on the road was a massive abandoned attraction park called Kokuyo Land. She had been once as a kid with her mother and father when they were visiting cousin Tunafish and the family. She had remembered enjoying her day there, but right now, with its rusting massive gates, and the dead silence that surrounded it, she was beginning to change her mind. _Ghost town much_.

Heading past it, her footsteps being the only thing heard, she picked up the pace. It was cowardly, but the place was giving her the creeps.

_**SCREEEECH**_. Nanako almost had a heart attack when a loud, shrill noise sounded from behind the gates, her whole body flinching frantically. What the hell was that? Her eyes shot into the area through the bars of the gate. While it was still pitch black, the once silent area began to fill with footsteps that seemed to be advancing closer and it wasn't long till she was sure she could see a shadowy figure lurking; it slivering closer in the darkness.

"I don't feel like dying today," she uttered under breath, before running promptly up the street, this time not taking any second glances.

When she got home, she was surprised to see there was no Kyoya in, she assumed he was skulking around the area, being the Dark King of Brooding, or possibly terrorizing the neighborhood with that temper of his. Retreating to her room, her limbs tired, she flopped down onto the bed and relished in its soft sheets. _Oh hell yes_ had she needed this.

She had the house to herself; she guessed her mother and stepfather were still busy at work or something likewise, so she leaned over to grab a couple of manga books. With all this training, she hadn't found time at all for manga, anime or video games and part of her cringed over the fact she felt like she was betraying her previous self. Flicking through one, she started to remember why she was such a big fan in the first place, and soon she was completely immersed in her comic book. Her ears perked up to the sound of her ringtone as her phone went off. Who could that be? Hardly anyone had her number? It wasn't like she had friends, so was that her buddy from Shimon?

Rolling off the bed and hitting the floor loudly, she ignored the pain growing in her side and did a mad dash to her phone. Looking at it excitedly, her face broke out into a bigger smile when her assumption was correct.

"HELLO!" She practically screamed with excitement down the phone, and in reply she heard the timid boy squeak before muttering gibberish under his breath.

"N-Nanako, why so loud?" the boy cried, and Nanako responded by giggling. She had needed this; in fact, just hearing the boy's voice filled her with joy. That was until it dawned on her how long it had been since they had last spoke, and to be quite frank, it was her fault.

"IM SO SORRRRY!" she screeched and once more she heard that adorable squeak followed by the same gibberish.

"S-Stop doing that!" the other demanded, his voice cracking, he really was easy to tease, "And sorry for what Nanako?"

"I've realized how long it's been since we spoke, I am literally the worst best friend ever, strike me down for I have sinned against the god of friendship," she declared dramatically, her free arm not holding the phone moving around expressively in reaction to her voice.

A quiet chuckle sounded down the phone, and Nanako smiled blissfully; so he wasn't mad with her. That was the best news she had heard all day.

"Apology accepted, just what have you been doing exactly?" the boy asked, he sounded curious and in a way she was quite eager to tell him all about her training and not to mention Kenji. Surely he would be delighted to hear that she was no longer that weakling she once used to be!

"You'll never guess what, I've been learning body combat for a few months now, it's making me super strong, literally you should check out my guns," she explained playfully that free arm pumping to express the point despite the fact he wasn't even there, "It's intensive, but least now I'll be able to protect the both of us!"

The line had suddenly gone awfully quite, to the point where she had wondered if she had been cut off.

"Are you there still?"

"Oh, umm yes," she heard the other reply hesitantly. That was strange, she had sort of hoped he would have been a bit happier for her, he just sounded oddly quieter than usual, in fact he almost sounded bothered, but before she could ask his voice made another appearance, "Why the sudden motivation?"

What did he mean? Wasn't it obvious on her behalf? She had been a punching bag for most of her younger years, so it was quite obvious why.

"Because, I have a feeling it's not just for self-defense purposes Nanako," the boy said, his voice sounding rather austere, he was being rather upfront today. That wasn't normally like him at all. The tone of his voice had killed her excitement and soon the phone call's mood changed entirely.

She sighed, should she tell him the truth? _Actually, I'm training to be a mafia lackey because my cousin is actual the successor of one of the biggest mafia families around, yeah, surely that would go down a treat if she said __**that**_. Suppose she could be frank with him to a certain extent.

"Recently someone important in my life got involved in a certain lifestyle, and sometimes it can be dangerous, you know me, I want to protect them no matter what," she said, her tone sincere, but for some reason it was only responded with a low hum that almost sounded angry.

"Is this your cousin Nanako?" Nanako froze at that. That was a very precise hunch, almost like he...he couldn't…

"How did you-

Without any prior warning, her door slammed open, causing Nanako to squeak, her whole body convulsing in surprise.

Stood in her bedroom doorway, looking frantic and desperate was none other than her step father, his breathing heavy.

"N-Nanako! Have you seen Kyoya?! I've called him several times but he won't answer, apparently he didn't turn up to school today!" the man practically shouted, his whole body shaking.

Kyoya not turning up for school, how was that even possible? The boy was obsessed with scho-

"Nanako," her friend's voice spoke in her ear, but she couldn't respond, her eyes wide with shock.

The phone slipped from under her fingers, it dropping noisily on to the floor. Just earlier she had been discussing with Reborn of the possibility that those who were attacked were the strongest in the school, and because she had been consumed with worry for Tsuna and that jerk Yamamoto she had completely overlooked one important factor.

Hibari Kyoya was infamously the strongest person in the whole of Namimori Middle school.

_**Oh fuck no.**_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I had planned to upload this days after I released the last chapter, but moving away and starting university hit me, and not to mention, Graphic Design is like one of the busiest courses, such much stuff to do, plus there's socializing and societies to join. So I've completely void of time, and for that I'm sorry, reading through this chapter, I'm really not keen on the style it's been written in. We're finally in the Kokuyo Arc guys, now I've got to read an actual book (haven't had much chance to read a decent novel since I've been here) so I can get my head around third person writing again. I have a brief idea of what is going to happen for this upcoming chapter, just thinking a bit more of how I can expand and get to the end of my idea. Plus I know it seems I'm making Yamamoto into a sort of jerk at the moment, but it'll end soon, don't worry. He's like the nicest character, so i feel like i'm ocing the fuck out of him.<strong>

**Hope this chapter is ok, dropping me a review would be nice, etc, thanks for all the newcomers to the story also.**

**I hope to be more active soon, but being an **_**adult**_** has hit me, and also full-time student with about loads of major projects has hit me hard, they're good though. See ya later gaters.**


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